Before it all began
by Krish11762
Summary: Given a chance to return to the past, can Naruto prevent the resurrection of the Juubi, and prevent Madara from becoming its Jinchuuriki? And at what cost? Time travel fic. Strong but not overpowered! Naruto. First fic. Focus on Nature chakra. Gets better few chapters in.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto stood in front of a heavily injured Madara. They were both bleeding profusely and panting, trying to catch their breath. Madara had lost his arm from a rasengan while Naruto had lost his left eye from not being fast enough to dodge the Amaterasu flames.

In the distance, the Gedo maze could be seen. The entire Shinobi alliance were throwing jutsu after jutsu, trying to destroy. It was working, as cracks appeared all over the statue.

Madara glanced out of the corner of his vision, his Sharingan spinning, noticing the damage done to his weapon.

"Do you still believe that peace can be achieved?" Asked Madara. "No matter what, blood will always be shed and loved ones will be lost. Even now people are dying. How does it feel to know that it was because of you?" He taunted.

Naruto stayed silent and just stared at him with his blue eyes. What were once full of life and joy were now empty and emotionless.

He had lost everyone he cared about. Tsunade had died fighting madara along with Gaara. Sakura and Kakashi had been killed by Obito and Sasuke. Sai had killed himself after he had forcefully killed his brother Shin. Yamato had been disposed off after madara had finished using him. Kurama was stuck in the Gedo Maze while Bee had died when the Hachibi was extracted.

Naruto had gone berserk when they died. He had killed their murderers in the most painful way.

"Let's just finish this Madara" Naruto said silently.

He made the ram seal and made three Kage bunshin, never taking his eyes of Madara. Two began channeling chakra onto each of his hands, preparing to make a rasengan while the third retreated a distance to collect some nature chakra.

Madara's eyes morphed into his mangekyo sharingan and began to activate his susano'o.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before silently charging at full speed.

Naruto ran straight at Madara who raised his only arm to try and block the attack.  
>When the attack met it seemed like the susano'o would hold, but then Naruto's eyes turned gold with a horizontal bar while his eye lids gained an orange pigment.<p>

The rasengan suddenly doubled in size due to the sudden influx of nature chakra.  
>The chakra ball exploded as the same time as the susano'o flickered and collapsed.<p>

Madara stumbled back from the force of the attack and tried to blocked the attack, but was too late as Naruto hit him with a second rasengan.  
>He was forced to the ground as the chakra ball began to tear through his stomach, shredding his skin, muscles and organs.<p>

When the technique finally dispersed, Madara laid there staring at Naruto.

Naruto crumbled to the ground and began coughing out blood. He had finally felt the effects of forcing more chakra out of his empty reserves.

_"But that's okay"_ he thought._"I took down Madara-teme. I stopped the_-"

His thought were cut short when he began to hear Madara laughing like a maniac. Each breath squirted blood from his mouth.

"Do you really think you've won?"Madara asked with a crazy glint in his two doujutsu eyes.

Naruto glared weakly at Madara." What are you talking about teme -argh!"

Naruto eyes widened when he felt the pain of a sword being stabbed in his back . It was a black ...root?

"It seems that you weren't strong enough Uzumaki Naruto" said Zetsu looking down at the shocked blonde.

"But how?" He rasped."I killed you! I destroyed each of your spores! You should be dead!"

"It's seems that you have forgotten what I am." Zetsu spoke with his emotionless face."I am literally an embodiment of Madara-sama's will. As along as he is alive, so am I."

He removed his root/blade from the blondes back before walking towards Madara and healing him with his spores.

"I warned you Uzumaki, if you came in peacefully you could have stopped all of this from happening." Said Madara, his crazed expression changing back to his stoic one.

Madara and Zetsu turned around and began to move towards the Gedo Maze, leaving Naruto to his death.

_"Well I guess I couldn't do it."_ thought Naruto, struggling to breath. "_I sorry Nagato, Ero-sennin... I failed."_

_SCENE CHANGE_

Naruto woke up feeling better than he ever had. When he opened his eyes, the only thing that he could see was an endless sea of white.

He was confused.

_"Shoudn't i be dead?"_ he thought. _"Where the hell am i?"_

As if reading his mind, a gruff voice seemed to answer.

"You are in the area between life and death, Young one." said the gruff voice. it carried a thick accent but Naruto couldn't seem to recognize it and seemed to be coming from every direction.

"What?"He asked."Who the hell are you? And what do you mean by an area between life and death?"

"Exactly what it means, Young one" It answered. "You arent dead, but you aren't quite alive either. I am what you humans call a Kami"

Naruto' eyes widened at that bit of information. "If you're Kami, as in a god, then why am i here? And what happened to the Shinobi Alliance?!"

"Impatient, are we?" It spoke, amused. "the moment when those... Ninjas saw Madara coming, they lost all hope. They are now trapped under an eternal genjutsu where they will do the same thing everyday for the rest of their lives. You could say that they have lost they're soul and are just emotional husks of their past self."

Naruto's heart clenched at the information he had recieved. he had failed his sensei and now his home is destroyed gone because he wasn't strong enough.

"So, why am i here?" he asked, trying to stop from breaking down to tears.

Kami seemed to take sometime to answer that qusestion but spoke in an amused voice: "Well Uzumaki Naruto, i have seen your past and let say that you ...Interest me. Anyone in your position probably would have turned into that friend Gaara of yours. But you seemed to oversome the hatred that humans always succumb i would like to propose a deal."

Naruto's hand clenched when Kami spoke like as if he was some funny animal. He hated when he was treated like an object. It reminded him of unpleasant memories of his lonely childhood.

'What's in it for me?" he said, glad that there weren't any noticeable signs of anger in his voice.

"I'll give you another chance to stop Madara by sending you to your past." Kami said in a serious voice, for the first time.

Naruto's jaw dropped at that. He could stop Madara? He could save those who dies? For the first time in a long time, you could see hope burning in his eyes.

"And what do you want in return?" Slapping himself mentally for not hiding his excitement.

Immediately Kami's voice changed back to that of an amused person."About that.. you see Uzumaki-san you humans amuse me with your ways of getting around your problems. It's quite entertaining. Especially you. You have never given up. Ever. And you are by far the most Interesting person since Hashirama. I will seal away your memories until the time is right for you to kill Madara, and you will no be the same person you are. You will still have your skill but i will change you DNA slightly so no one would recognise you. And most of the people you knew wont be there. They probably wont even be born for a decade.

Naruto's heart would have skipped a beat, if he still had one. If he said yes he could stopped Madara, but he would have no idea what to do before then and he wouldnt be able to see his friends again.

"And if i say no?" He asked.

Then you will continue to the afterlife and be together with your dead loved ones.

An image of Jiraiya's face crossed Narutos mind.  
><em>"He would want me to take this opportunity<em>" The blonde thought. _"i will achieve our dreams Jiraiya sensei, Nagato.  
><em>

_"_'l'll do it."


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto woke up in deep inside a forest at night.

He got up groggily. _"What happened?"_ He thought. _" The last thing i remember was..." _

He froze.

_"What the hell?! Why can't i remember?! Where am i? And how did i get here?"_ He thought panicking. He put his hands on his head trying to calm down.

"Okay relax. Calm down. Don't panic." He whispered to himself. He looked around trying to recognize where he was. He was surrounded by huge trees with leaves large enough to wrap around his hand. the ground was littered with dead leaves but a big group seemed to be right were he was standing. as if acting like a cushion to him. He began to walk out, trying to find a path that would help him get out.

After walking for a while the trees seemed to be getting smaller until he reached a giant lake that was. The scenery was beautiful. The lake seemed to to be a dark shade of blue that seemed to reflect light towards the nightsky, givving it an eerie glow. He approached it in a fast pace, wanting to quench his thirst quickly. As he peered into the water, he noticed that bottom of the lake could not be seen and it gave him a clear reflection of himself.

He had dark orange, slightly spikey hair and eyes that seemed to have an identical colour to the lake. he had a light tan on his skin and three strange whisker-like marks on each of his cheeks. His face had a bit of baby fat and showed signs of puberty.

Smiling at himself, liking his hair colour, Naruto was going to scoop some water with his hands when he noticed some marks on his left palm.

_"What the...? 'I hope you make good use of our deal, Naruto. '? Is that my name? Naruto?"_

His thoughts were cut short when he heard some footsteps coming out from his right. Almost immediately, his body moved, out of instinct, towards the nearest tree.

_"Wait... Why am i hiding? They're probably some villagers. Maybe the can help me."_

Out of the woods came out 4 grown men and a girl around his age. The men wore identical light grey clothings, with pouches at their waste, and a mask covering their mouth They all wore a headband with a weird mark on it.

_"Shinobi."_ He thought before wondering how he knew that.

That was when he fully noticed the girl. She had blood red hair and a skin tone lighter than his. Her hands were cuffed and she seemed to be ripping of chunks of her hair and throwing them at the ground without the ninjas noticing. But the expression on her face is what caught his attention. It looked like she was trying to keep an emotionless face but Naruto could see through it. Her eyes were filled with fear and she was struggling to prevent tears from leaving her eyes.

"Move it bitch!" Growled one of the shinobi.

Naruto's hands clenched. He knew that the men probably kidnapped her from somewhere. But Naruto didn't notice that he was standing absolutely still. And his body reacted the same way it had before and started to collect nature chakra._  
><em>

"I still can't believe how easy it was to take her from Konoha" Spoke one of the men while continueing to walk.

"I know, right? Did you see the gate guards? They were actually sleeping!" Laughed another one.

They all shared a chuckle before their eyes moved onto their captive redhead.

"So what do you think Raikage- sama wants with her?" asked the tallest one.

"i dont know." One answered. "He's probably gonna kill her or use her as a breeding machine."

Blood started to drip down Naruto's hands when his nails pierced his skin. _"Those bastards!"_ He growled mentally.

The girl's steps faltered when she heard the words 'breeding machine'. Before continuing her walk. But this time it was easy for the fear on her face to be seen.

"Your heard that, little bitch?" mocked the shorter shinobi. "You're gonna be a little play toy for Kumogakure. Who knows? Maybe even we will get a turn with you."

Those words cut through the girl's mask and tears began cascading down her cheeks.

Seeing the state of the redhead, the shinobi quickly slapped her in the face.

"Stop crying, you useless little shit!"he shouted."Now get a move on !"

That was the large straw for Naruto before he picked a stone up from the ground and came out from behind the trees at the same time as his eyes took on an orange pigment.

The shinobi were glaring at the girl when suddenly, a stone suddenly whacked him at the side of his head. Rubbing his temple, he glared at the direction it came from and saw a orange haired boy, probably 14 years old, standing there.

"Who the fuck do you think you are kid?!" Screamed the guy, angered that a child caught him of guard.

"Let the girl go." Naruto whispered, the ninjas barely hearing him.

The men looked at each other before laughing. "What makes you think you can take us on, Brat?" Laughed the tallest one."just cause you got a lucky shot, doesn't mean you can take on 4 Kumo jounin."

Naruto glanced towards the redhead, who was gazing at him with worry and a hint of fear. Without saying a word he charged, straight towards the 4 jounins.

The Kumo nin's eyes widened when they saw the speed the boy was charging towards them at, it was atleast the speed of a jounin.

When Naruto was almost at the Ninjas, he jumped and aimed a roundhouse kick towards the first jounins head. He was shocked when he actually made contact and knocked the shinobi off his feet. His happiness was cut short when the other three started to attack him.

**"Lightning Release: False Darkness"**shouted the farthest jounin. His jutsus accuracy seemed perfect but when it reached near Naruto it suddenly lost power.

**"Sage Art: Wind Release Stream"**called Naruto. A huge gust of wind cancelled out the lightning jutsu beforing slamming the jounin into a tree.

_"How did i do that?" _Naruto wondered, shocked as his body moved without thinking._"And why does it feel like i've done this before?"_

**"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder" "Fire release: Dragon Fire Technique" **A giant wave of lightning alond with a huge dragon made of fire shot off towardsNaruto who started to speed through hand signs.

**"Sage Art: Wind Release Dust Cloud, **Roared Naruto sending the all of the dust at his feet.

An explosion took place but it was not completely visible from the dust flying around. Naruto stood on top of a tree, barely managing to call out a jutsu and dodge two more almost simultaneously. Automatically, he crossed two fingers of each hand against each other and 2 clones popped into existance.

The shadow clones nodded towards the original before jumping inside the giant dust cloud.

Naruto was shocked."_ How do i know all these techniques and... why do i feel so used to it?"_

A memory suddenly popped into his head. He saw the position of each of the Kumo nins as well as the redhead who was being held by the ninja who was hit by his roundhouse kick.

Naruto wasn't surprised at the sudden memory influx. he was more worried about why he wasn't surprised.

Suddenly Naruto felt something leaving his body and felt like as he was coming off his adredaline._"The nature...chakra must've run out. Why am i remembering these moves but not anything about my life?!"_

Trying to focus on the task at hand, Naruto created three clones and jumped down into the dust and sneaked up behind the jounin who held the girl captive while the clones went after the others. He stealthily got up right behind him and gave a swift blow to his neck, knocking himout and making him crumble to the floor.

The girl fell back, not expecting her kidnapper to suddenly fall on the floor. she closed her eyes awaiting the when it didn't come, she opened her violet eyes only to stare at someones blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" He whispered staring intently at her.

She nodded before looking fearfully around for the other ninjas.

"It's okay" He whispered gently."I took them dow-shit!"

The sudden shout surprised her as his gentle gaze turned into a more urgent one.

"Can you run?" He asked quickly.

"No"she answered back. "Those jounins hit my legs with a jutsu so i coudn't try to run but i would be able to barely walk."

She yelped when he scooped her up, carrying her bridal style.

"Im gonna have to carry." he said in a serious voice but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

The dust cloud finally dispersed alllowing her to see what happened.

The once huge green trees were now covered in flames. Smoke was rising everywhere making it difficult for her to see anything. The bodies of the three jounins were piled up near the lake, either dead or unconcious.

"Do you know which direction your village is?" Naruto asked.

Yes, but the flames are covering the path" she whispered before she noticed that he was running straight in to the fire. Her eyes widened, before she looped her arms around his neck and hugged her body against his.

Naruto ran between the flaming trees, his eyes taking in the condition of each tree, and going between the stronger ones. through the path he noticed how some of the animals of the forest were either running around in panic, or trapped under a fallen tree. He felt concern for the animals but he had to get the girl to safety first.

After a few minutes of running, they seemed to finally have reached a part where the fire hadn't reached yet.

He put the girl down."Stay here, okay?" he asked. seeing her nod he ran back to the flaming forest.

Naruto ran up to the highest tree closest to the fire and saw how much of the forest was burning. The fire was spreading, fast. and more of the animals would get hurt if he didnt try to stop it.

_"Please let this work" _He prayed, before going through some hand signs and taking a deep breath.

**"****Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" **called Naruto, blowing as much chakra infused wind as he could.

He had to adjust it so it was powerful enough to put out the fire but weak enough so it won't uproot the trees. At first, it seemed like the wind and fire were tied, so Naruto had to use more chakra to put them out. Eventually the fire got disspated but the all the tress were somewhat uprooted.

Panting , Naruto once again made the Ram seal: **"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!".**

About a hundred clones were created and ran throughout the forest, to help any trapped animals.

Naruto layed on a branch trying to catch his breath. "_I used too much chakra. i wish everything would stop spinning now. I think i;m gonna puke."_

As he climbed down the tree, He noticed that there were quick 'Meow!'s coming near his location. Walking towards a nearby bush, he saw a tiger cub trapped under a fallen branch. The tiger stared at him with big blue eyes that would make anyones heart melt. He pushed the branch out of the way, and picked up the cub. With a lick to Naruto's cheek and much happier 'Meow!' the baby tiger ran off.

**Scene change**

The sun had come out, and helped Naruto to find his way back to where he had dropped the girl. When he reached, the redhead was asleep, her head resting at the base of a tree. This was the first time Naruto had gotten a good look at her.

Her red hair was'nt a dye as he though but was her natural hair colour. She had a skin tone lighter than his but had a rather round face due to her baby fat and had a body that was developing nicely. Almost like she knew she was being watched, her eye lids fluttered open and her pretty violet eyes met his face.

Her expression was confused at first, before realization set in. She jumped of the forest floor and hugged him as tight as she could.

"You're okay!" She squealed." I was so worried when you didnt come back last night."

Naruto awkwardly hugged her back, not expecting such a reaction from a person he met a few hourse ago.

It took her awhile to realize what she was doing, before her face turned so red that it slightly resembled a tomato.

"U-um, sorry about that" she apologized,trying not to make eye contact.

"Its okay" Naruto smiled." My name is Naruto."

The girl looked up and gave him a huge smile,"My name is Kushina Uzumaki, da'ttebane!"

**AN/ Guys this is my first story so dont go all crazy or anything :) please review to write your opinions and pm me for any mistakes**


	3. Chapter 3

**Rewritten:**

* * *

><p>"Da'ttebane?" Naruto asked confused.<p>

The redheads face heated up when she noticed her slip. "It's a verbal tic." She said defensively.

"Okay, okay." Naruto said quickly, not trying to make Kushina mad. "So what are you doing out here? And who were those guys?"

"Those were enemy ninjas from Kumo. They snuck inside my village and kidnapped me." She said venomously.

"Ninjas? Kumo?" Naruto asked, puzzled. Kushina stared at him like he was acting but his face said otherwise.

"Seriously?! You don't know what are ninjas? How can you not, even the civilians know who ninjas are. And everyone knows the village Kumogakure!" She cried in shock. _"Where the hell is this guys from?"_

Naruto blinked at the girl's exclamations. "Well actually I don't remember anything." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I just woke up a few moments ago and the only thing I remember was my name, Naruto."

"You don't remember anything? Family? Friends?" Kushina asked, dumbfounded. Naruto shook his head. "Nope."

"But you used all those jutsus. How did you do that then?" Kushina reasoned. Naruto hesitated before answering. "I honestly don't know about that. I just saw it in my mind and it just came to me."

The two teenagers suddenly became silent as Kushina was trying to accept the fact that the guy who save her was suffering from amnesia while Naruto was wondering what he should say next.

"So, where _are _ you from?" Naruto said finally.

Kushina looked up at Naruto. "Well I live in Konohagakure. It one of the five great Shinobi villages. The others are Iwagakure, kirigakure, sunagakure and Kumogakure.

Konoha is really famous because everyone knows how open they are. I was originally from another village bu they took me in and helped feel at home. The leader of the village is called the Hokage. The Sandaime Hokage is Hiruzen Sarutobi. He's one of the strongest ninjas in the village, and he even as a nickname. He's called the 'Professor' in other villages because he could come up with plan and strategies in a blink of an eye. He also knows a huge amount of jutsus.

The village itself is huge. It's surrounds by huge trees that conceal us from other Nations. There's also a huge mountain behind it. It has the faces of all the Hokages carved on to it.

The people in the village are really nice. They don't treat you differently if your an outsider." She said with a smile, but Naruto could tell that it was strained.

"Sounds like an amazing place." Naruto said in awe. "Can I come with you? I don't really have a place to go to."

"Of course!" Kushina said with a grin. "I have to find a way to thank you, don't I?"

Naruto looked up. The giant trees obscured most of the sky but a few rays still managed to get through. He guessed that it was still early in the morning. "So which way do we go?"

"Follow me." Kushina said enthusiastically, as she began to jog away. Naruto easily caught up with her. He couldn't help but notice the metal plate she wore on her forehead.

"Hey Kushina." He called out. "Why do you wear that on your forehead?"

Oh, this?" She said pointing on the plate. "This is a forehead protector. It's awarded to those who graduate from the ninja academy and become official Shinobi!"

Naruto smiled a bit from the happiness in her voice. "You sound like you really wanted to be one."

"Yup!" She exclaimed putting her fist into the air. "My parents were shinobi and I want to be just like them." She continued to rant about what all she was going to do when she became a jounin. Seeing the lost expression on Naruto's face, she explained to him the Shinobi system, ranks and their missions.

"Okay, so genin. Then its chuunin, jounin, ANbu and then Kage. A jounn can take a team of three genins. They can take D rank missions, which are basically chores, right?" Naruto asked, trying to remember it all.

"And you can take C-rank but only if the sensei allows." She added.

"So you're a genin, right? Then why did those Kumo jounin try to kidnap you?" Naruto asked. Kushina noticably stiffened at those words.

"Like I told you before, the hidden villages are at war, so they were probably trying to take me hostage." She answered quickly. "And don't ask me why, cause I don't know." She added when Naruto opened his mouth.

"Fine." He pouted. "So, who are your teammates and sensei?"

"Well my _sensei_ is too busy fighting the war to teach us, so we don't really have any meetings or anything. Come to think of it, I don't remember the last time I spoke to my teammates." She said sheepishl while Naruto sweatdropped.

"So you taught yourself?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kushina nodded her head proudly. "I had a bit of help from my friend but I did most of it all on my own." She said, her voice filled with pride. But it quickly fell. "But I guess it wasn't enough." She mumbled.

"Hey cheer up." Naruto said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's not like everyone's prepared for someone to kidnap them. You just have to be more prepared if something like that happens again." He smiled.

The two continued to walk through the endless forest. Naruto was pretty sure they were lost, as the trees were identical, but Kushina seemed to know where they were going. The teenagers began to get bored walking in silence so Kushibna began to ask about the 'super cool' jutsus Naruto had used against the jounins. He showed her the handsigns on how to do each one, but each time she tried to do it, it was just a weak wind when compared to Naruto's destructive gale.

"Why isn't it working?!" She cursed for the tenth time. I did the handsigns correctly, I put alot of chakra, why isn't it working?" She thought angrily.

"Just practice a bit more." Naruto encouraged her. "And, are we there yet? We've must have walked for hours by now."

Kushina's concentration broke when she realized she forgot about their journey. "Oh yeah, it's right here." She said, swiftly turning left and running ahead. Surprised, he walked towards her and was met with an astonishing view.

It was a village. A huge village with white buildings making up most if it. Hundreds of people could be seen walking in the streets without a care in the world. In the center of the village stood a rather tall tower with the kanji for Hokage written on it. The village itself was built in a perfect circle, completely hidden by the gigantic trees.

"Welcome to Konohagakure no Sato." Kushina said with a huge grin. She quickly dragged him inside the village. There were two seats at the gate of the village, indicating that there were guards but strangely there weren't any there.

"Come on! I want to show you around the village!" She said, pulling him inside the village. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw something shift.

Suddenly, a figure jumped out of the shadows and appeared right infront of them. The being wore a dark set of clothes, a sword strapped on his back and a strange mask on his face.

On instinct, he pulled Kushina back behind as the ANBU spoke. "You are to come to the Hokage's office."

Kushina put her hand on Naruto's soldier. "Relax Naruto. That's one of the ANBU I told you about." She turned towards the ANBU. "Okay, we'll follow you."

Naruto didn't look convinced. Being in a foreign environment, he kept his guard up. The ANBU walked towards them and performed a single handsign. Naruto tensed but before he could do anything, their surroundings became a blur.

Suddenly, they stopped. Both, Kushina and him stumbled into each other from the sudden spin. He looked up to glare at the ANBU, only to find thin air. The ANBU had blended back into the shadows after taking them to the Hokage.

"Are you ready?" Kushina asked him nervously as they stood outside the door. Before he could answer, she knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Kushina opened the door, revealing a wide, oval room. Stacks of paper were piled up in the corner. There were pictures of two people on the wall. One was of a brown haired man, with tanned skin wearing a red hat. The second was of a white man with grey hair, with a metal plate around his face alone with three scars.

In the center of the room was a desk. The man who sat there had an expression of relief when he saw who opened the door.

"Thank Kami, Kushina that you're all right." He sighed in relief. "I was so shocked when we couldn't find you inside the village."

"Well you see Hokage-sama..." Kushina proceeded to explain what happened to her. From the kidnapping, to her trying to drop pieces of her hair as a sign that she was taken in this direction, to the part where Naruto saved her from her abductors.

The Hokage didn't show much emotion, but the slight widening of his eyes gave away the fact that he was shocked. A 14 year old boy had singlehandedly taken down several Kumo jounin.

Hiruzen was no stranger to war. He knew that there are some prople who teach children the Shinobi arts in the most ruthful way. It destroys any emotion and humanity that is left in the child, only leaving a cold blooded killer.

But the boy Infront of him seemed different. His emotions seemed genuine, and the fact that he had saved the Uzumaki heiress made him grateful to him.

"So, where are you from, Naruto?" The Hokage asked kindly, though with an undetone of caution.

Naruto seemed uncomfortable at the question, but Kushina saved him. "Actually Hokage-sama, he has a case of amnesia, so he doesn't know where he came from or who he is."

Hiruzen grimaced. it was exactly as he remembered the times during the clan wars, when there were no villages and everyone is your enemy and many clans were wiped out. He remember a story of a clan that specialized in Raiton jutsus, Unlike other clans, they were more friendly and less catious. This lead to their downfall, when they found a civilian. His memories were sealed, and due to their lack of knowledge of Fuinjutsu, they could break it. They let him live with them. A few months later, the clan was destroyed in a chakra explosion, the civilian being the cause of it. A walking time bomb.

_"But we do have the Yamanaka clan."_ Hiruzen realized. _"Perhaps they can fix it. And Kushina seemed to take a liking to him." _ He thought, eyeing how close Kushina was standing to him.

He cleared his throat. "Kushina." He called. "Could you leave us for a moment?"

Kushina seemed taken aback, but nodded and left nonetheless. Naruto looked uncertainly at the Hokage, waiting for him to speak.

"So, you can't remeber, huh?" Hiruzen said, finally. "Well lucky for you, there is a clan here that specializes in mind-related techniques. If you want, we could send one for you right now."

"Really?" Naruto said, shocked.

A few minutes later, a blonde man stood infront of Naruto, his blue eyes staring into Naruto's. "So, you want me to check his memories, Hokage-sama?"

A nod was his answer. Before Naruto could react, a hand gently touched his forehead.

_Mindscape_

The Yamanaka opened his eyes, and was greeted by a sewer system. He was knee deep in water that seemed to stir gently. Pipes could be seen leading to different directions.

_"Chakra pipes." _He thought. "_But what are those?"_

Beside the abnormally big pipes, were nine different ones joinging into the blues. Unlike the others, these didn't seemed to have chakra. Infact, it didn't have anything inside.

"Strange" He thought. "I've never seen things like this before. He proceeded to wander around the sewer for what seemed like an eternity, until he found himself infront of a door. He put his hand on the knob, and was blown back by some unknown force.

"What the...? White lines appeared on the door, crisscrossing into a complicated pattern, forming what seemed as a seal.

He recognized several Kanji's for memories, techniques, time. But he had little to no knowledge of Fuinjutsu, so he had no idea what it meant. But even he knew that this must be one hell of a seal. He tried touching the door again, but this time, instead of being pushed away, he was blasted out of the mind.

_Outside_

The yamanaka stumbled back from Naruto, as if the force from the seal followed him to the physical world. The hokage rose an eyebrow at the Yamanaka's strange behaviour.

"Well, did you find his memories?" He asked.

"I'm afraid not Hokage-sama. His memories are actually sealed inside of his own mind." The yamanaka answered.

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "Insides ones mind?! How is that even possible." His eyes moved towards the teenager, who seemed confuse by those words.

"It's not even just an ordinary seal." Yamanaka continued. "In fact, ive never seen anything like it. There were so many lines, marks, kanjis that even an uzumaki would not be able to crack it.

Hiruzen sighed, feeling another headache coming up. He dismissed the yamanaka before turning to Naruto. The boy still looked as puzzled when he did when the Yamanaka stopped his jutsus.

"I'm going to be blunt." The Hokage said. "Your memories aren't gone, they are actually sealed inside your mind."

"Sealed?" Naruto asked. "What do you mean?"

Apparently, Fuinjutsu is not one of Naruto's skill because he had no idea what sealing meant. The Hokage proceeded to explain the basic concept of Fuinjutsu.

The Hokage watched as a conflicted expression fell on to the boys face. Whenever your memories are sealed, it meant that you were wanted dead, or you held secrets and knowledge of other villages or clans.

"The problem isn't that your memories are sealed. It's that their sealed within your mind. If their was an external mark on your body then we would have been able to crack it, but yours is inside you. It basically sealed itself."

Naruto sighed. "So you can't fix it?"

"No, we can't. But there is good news. A memory seal doesn't have much of a lifespan so it will probably disappear at some point."

"Really? How long?"

"A decade."

Naruto face faulted at the blunt answer. "Geez, he makes it sound like a decade is an hour or something." A silence fell upon the two, as Naruto thought about his memories while Hiruzen remembered what Kushina had said.

"Is it true that you really fought and defeated those Kumo jounin?" Hiruzen asked finally.

"I don't really know how, but yeah I did." Naruto said sheepishly.

"So you know how to use chakra?" He questioned. As Naruto nodded he continued, "In our village, only Shinobi use chakra, while civilians do not. We will have to seal your chakra so it won't cause any suspicion."

"Seal my chakra? You mean you'll cut it off?" Hiruzen nodded. "Isn't there another way? You said that only Shinobi are allowed to use chakra, can't I become a Shinobi instead?"

"You... could." The Hokage admitted. Naruto accepted the offer, and was then given a headband similar to Kushina's. "You are now a leaf Shinobi. Wear that with pride, and let the will of fire burn bright within you."

Naruto grinned at the grandfatherly smile he was given by the Hokage. He tied the forehead protector on his head. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He said, before leaving the room.

Immediately after the door closed, Hiruzen's smile dropped. "Damn kid, like as if I didn't have enough trouble with all of the other villages." "Anbu!" He called out.

A masked man appeared on his knees infront of the Hokage. "I want you to follow that boy. If he doesn't anything suspicious at all, I want you to report to me."

**AN/: Done! Sorry for the late update. I don't really have an excuse other than my laziness and Dota 2 :) I managed to make this chapter almost double the old size, but I didn't check the grammar so please forgive me for any mistakes. PLEASE REVIEW! Any questions can be sent by PM.**


	4. Chapter 4

"You're a Konoha shinobi?!" Kushina exclaimed.

"Yup!"Naruto grinned. "But I didn't expect Hokage-sama to give it so easily."

Naruto and Kushina were walking around the village, the redhead showing Naruto around the village, when Naruto took out a forehead protector from his pocket.

"Who cares?!" Kushina yelled loudly, excited. "Now you can show all those super awesome jutsus!"

Naruto rose an eyebrow, amused."Kushina-chan, are you asking me to teach you?

Kushina's cheeks the tiniest shade of pink. "Maybe.." She answered slyly.

When Naruto's expression changed to a serious one, Kushina stopped walking.

"Please? I'll...um.. I'll buy you ramen for a week!" She begged desperately.

Naruto stared at her with an intense gaze until he suddenly bursted laughing.

"Of course, I'll teach you. You just need to ask." He laughed. "But your expression was hilarious! You looked so scared when you thought I would say no!"

Kushina released a sigh she didn't realize she was holding before whacking him softly on the head. "Baka. You worried me for a second"

Naruto just chuckled softly before he sensed someone, no two people following them. "_That's one of the ANBU who were at the office. The Hokage must have sent him to check if i was trustworthy. Understandable i guess, but I think me telling I'll Kushina I'll teach her probably made them more suspicious."_ He thought sheepishly.

Naruto was surprised at the second signature. "_I__s that a genin?"_He thought confused.

Naruto gave in to his curiosity and looked back to see a blond boy, with a forehead protector showing that he was a ninja, following them. Every so often he would stare at Kushina or give him a weird look.

"Kushina-chan?" He said, getting her attention. " I don't know if you noticed, but there's some blonde genin following us?"

"There is?" she asked confused, but when she saw who it is her expression turned to an annoyed one. "Oh, him."

"You know who he is?"

"Yeah that's Minato Namikaze, apprentice to the great Jiraiya of the Sannin ," she irritately.

"You don't like him?"

"Not exactly. It's just that he keeps following me where ever i go. It feels like he is stalking me or something."

_"Okay, that's kinda creepy_,"Naruto thought. "Maybe he just wants to be friends? Naruto said, trying to defend the blonde.

Kushina glared at him. "Naruto-kun, I told you of the times that some guys picked on me or hit me. He was always watching me from the shadows. If he wanted to be my friend them he could have helped me. But he just stayed and watched." She said, ending the subject.

They walked quietly for a few minutes before Naruto spoke up again.

"So Kushina-chan, who is your sensei?"Naruto asked .

"Well, you see, I don't exactly have an official sensei.."

"What?!"

"Most of the jounins have to be out of the village, and the ones that can come to teach us don't come everyday. We get different people each day. Sometimes none of them even come." She answered, depressed.

"What about the genin team?"

"They were civilians so they stopped being a ninja when 'No one would teach them cool jutsus.'

Naruto just nodded, before cursing at himself mentally for putting her in a bad mood. "Kushina-chan, can we go and eat lunch somewhere?"

Kyshina's sad face disappeared immediately and now had a huge smile on her face." I know the perfect place!" She said, grabbing his hand and dragging him somewhere.

They stopped in front of a ramen shop. Kushina realized that she was still hoding his hand and quickly let go, with a light blush.

"A ramen shop?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"Not just any ramen shop. This one IS THE BEST!" She shouted. "Teuchi-jiji, 5 bowls of miso ramen please."

"Hello again, Kushina," The shop keeper, Teuchi said. "Oh, and this time you brought a friend too. What's your name?"

"My name's Naruto," He answered smiling at the kind old man.

"Well Naruto, what would you like to eat?"

Unsure of what to eat, he ordered the same as Kushina, before he sat down with her at a table.

Seeing how excited Kushina was, Naruto couldn't help but ask,"Is the ramen that good?"

Kushina's eyes brightened at the question before going into a rant of how it's the food of the gods.

Naruto listened and waited patiently for their order to arrive. Eventually, he got bored and started to admire the scenery. The shop was quiet yet had a peaceful look to it. Villagers were walking around with smiles on their face and the sound of children playing caused a slight smile to appear on his face. He looked back to Kushina and noticed how she constantly moved her hair behind her ear and how her eyebrows went up each time she was excited.

Kushina was talking all about her favourite ramen when she noticed how Naruto was staring at her with a slight smile on her face. Her face went completely red, before she hit him on the head."Wh- Why the hell are you looking at me like that?" she stuttered.

Naruto realized what he was doing, and put his hands infront of him, trying to calm down Kushina. "Nothing! Nothing! I swear!"

Kushina calmed down but glared at Naruto. "Your lucky that you're going to teach me, da'ttebane!"

Instead of being scared, Naruto found Kushina's glare, mixed with her visible blush and slightly pouted lips, more adorable than threatening. And the verbal tic didn't help.

Their order finally arrived, with Kushina still glaring at Naruto, who was trying not to allow a smile to cross his face.

"Here you go! 5 miso ramen for the lady and 2 for the young man!" Said the smiling waitress, putting two steaming bowls on the table.

Immediately Kushina's glare was replaced by a a twinkle in her eyes as she took her two chopsticks. She was about to take a huge amount of noodles in her mouth, when she stopped abruptly and stared at Naruto.

"What?" Asked Naruto, confused from her staring.

"Try it." She answered, still staring.

Naruto picked up his chopsticks, feeling unnerved from her gaze and took a bit of noodles before putting it in his mouth.

_Slurp. Gulp._

"THIS IS AMAZING!"

"I KNOW RIGHT, DA'TTEBANE?"

Both teenagers ended up ordering more ramen untl their stomach was slightly bloated. None of them knew what Teuchi was thinking.

"_I'm gonna be rich!"_

**Scene change**

"You can stay with me Naruto-kun. At least until you can afford your own place." Kushina said as they approached her apartment.

It was nothing fancy. A single bedroom apartment with a kitchen, a small living room and bathroom.

"Well, this is it." She said, trying to hide an empty ramen box from Naruto's view.

"Um, where's the bathroom?" He asked nervously. After Kushina showed him he ran so fast it looked like a blur to her.

Kushina sat down on her couch, thinking about what all happened to her today. _"Well at least I got a new friend." _She thought optimistically. "_He's really nice, and doesn't think my hair is ugly like everone else. He said it was beautiful. Can... Can i tell him that I'm a jinchuriki? Would he judge me?"_

Her thoughts were stopped when she heard a flush from the bathroom and Naruto coming out with a relieved expression.

"What are you thinking about Kushina-chan?" He asked, noticing her conflicted expression.

"Nothing" She said hastily before leaving to change into her nightwear.

Naruto sat on the sofa and recalled what all happened. Or rather, what he couldn't. _"Sigh* What happened that caused me to forget everything? And what did that Yamanaka mean by a seal in my mind? Damn this so frustrating!" _He thought lying on the couch, preparing to fall asleep.

"What are you doing?" Kushina's voice caused his eye lids to snap open.

"Uhh, going to sleep?" He answered confused.

"Well you can't sleep here!" She exclaimed. "You have to take the bed. I'll take the couch."

"No, Kushina-chan. You already bought me lunch and you're letting me stay at your house. I'll take the couch."

"But-" She began.

"No buts, Kushina-chan." Naruto said firmly.

"Fine." She sighed before smiling. "Good night Naruto-kun"

"Good night Kushina-chan"

**AN/: This chaptor is basically Naruto moving in Konoha. And before you all complain about Minato. You have to admit that he stalked Kushina. And because they didn't meet in the kidnapping I'm pretty sure Kushina would react like that. BUT i am going to make him and Kushina meet and talk. And if anyone thought i would make Naruto and Kushina sleep on the same bed, well no. That would be ... awkward, if you think about it. Please leave a review.**


	5. Chapter 5

"_Kawaii!" _Kushina thought as she watched the cute view.

She felt guilty for making Naruto sleep on the couch. When she had woken up, she had come to a scene that made her heart melt. Naruto was sleeping,knocked out cold, with his head tilted and a tiny bit of drool coming out of his mouth. There was a kitten curled up, sleeping on his chest. both were making the tiniest of snores.

_"I've got to take a picture of this!" _She squealed mentally, running to get a camera.

She kept taking pictures from every angle until she noticed something amiss._"Wait a second, where did that cat come from?"_ She walked carefully toward the now waken kitten and she noticed that it had familiar orange fur, the exact same shade as Narutos. She picked up the cub but it immediately jumped out of her hands and into her hair. The kitten then satrted playing with her hair, curious to what it was.

Kushina giggled when she saw what the cat was doing before noticing that Naruto was beginning to wake up. She quickly hid the camera and went to greet Naruto.

"Good morning sleepy head." She said brightly, playing with the kitten.

"_Yawn* _Good morning to you to Kushina-chan" He answered sleepily. His eyes widened when he noticed something orange in her arms.

"Is that a... tiger cub?" He said staring at her.

"I guess." She said, not sure.

The cub was cheerfully listening to their conversation giving out a 'Meow!' now and then or rubbing himself against their bodies.

"What should we do with it?" Kushina asked, petting the cat.

"We should take it back to the forest" He said immediately.

"Are you sure? What if something happens to it?" She said, feeling protective of the cub.

Naruto sighed, knowing that she was already getting attached to the kitten. "Kushina," He said gently but firmly. "I know that you really like the kitten, but somewhere in the forest, its parents are looking for it. Would you come in the way of a family for your own selfish desires?"

Kushina looked down ashamed, before looking back at the cub. As if sensing her sadness, the kitten jumped onto her lap before curling itself and staring at her.

"Okay" She whispered sadly, scratching behind the kittens ears.

Naruto nodded before picking up the little cub. "I'll go and try to find its parents."

Kushina didn't reply. She just watched as Naruto left with the kitten.

_"It reminded me so much of him."_

**Scene change**

Naruto was running onward the village walls when he realized that the ANBU was tailing him again.

_"Shit!"_ He cursed mentally before taking a sharp turn.

Naruto ran into a nearby alleyway before making a shadow clone while covering the tiger's mouth to prevent a sound to give away their real position. He waited a few moments before he saw the ANBU run after his clone.

Naruto sighed in relief. "That was a close one, wasn't it?" He said to the kitten who purred in return.

He climbed over the nearby wall before jumping into the forest floor below. He walked a while, looking for a sign of life or any place a tiger would live in when suddenly the cub started to struggle out of his hands. He put it on the ground and watched as the kitten ran a few feet before stopping and looking at him.

_"Does it want me to follow him?" _He thought curiously, as he followed the kitten. Eventually they reached a giant cave.

"Well, I guess this is your home, huh?" Naruto said as he began turning around to leave when he felt a tug at the bottom of his pants. He looked down to see the cub, trying to pull him towards the cave.

He smiled uneasily before following the kitten inside. _"Be ready"_ He told himself. _"If the Mother sees me, Its going to attack."_

He continued walked until suddenly his head hit a rock prodding out of the ceiling.

"Ow!" He yelped, nursing a slight bump on his head. When he looked up, he saw a signs starting to glow on the ceiling. He tried to move but he found that he was paralyzed. The kitten was sitting calmly infront of him, as if he was smiling. Naruto looked up to the signs again and realized that they were actually ."_Seals?"_ He began to notice serveral kanjis spread around the ceiling. "_Summon... Reverse... Tiger?"_

A bright light illuminated the cave.

**Scene change**

Tears flowed down Kushina's cheeks as she went through her album book. It was the only thing she managed to bring with her from Uzu before its destruction.

_"Tou-chan. Kaa-chan. Onii-chan. Tora._

Her eyes were fixed on an image of a handsome man with ivory skin, a slightly round face with black hair and hair, a beautiful young woman with blood red hair, tanned skin and violet eyes, and a young teenager who had inherit his mother's looks but his fathers hair and eyes. Kushina stood in the center with a light orange furred cat sitting on her head. This was her family.

"_I miss you all so much... I'm sorry for whatever I've done to you. Why... Why did you all have to die?"_

This was the scene that Naruto, or actually Naruto's clone walked in on. Kushina heard him walking in but made no effect to stop the tears.

Naruto saw the book and scanned all the people in it. His eyes widened as he understood why she was so attached to the tiger cub."Kushina-chan, I'm so-"

"S-Save it okay" She sniffled, still staring at the book.

"Kushina-chan I know it must have hurt-"

"Hurt?HURT?" She screamed as years of frustration of people trying to give fake comfort for her loss exploded out of her. "How would you know how it feels!? You don't even remember your family! You don't know how it feels to have your family die infront of you! To know that they won't be there each day you wake up! To know that they sacrificed themselves to save you! How would you know?! You have fucking amnesia! Just go away from me!"

Kushina's hair had began lashing out as she glared ar Naruto' clone. In a few seconds, her eyes widened when she had realized what she had just said. "N-Naruto I'm s-sorry-"

"If that's what you want." He said in an emotionless voice as he left the room without another word.

"Naruto wait!" She cried, running out of the room trying to catch up. When she was about to reach him, he disappeared in a shunshin.

Kushina cursed, silently, before wipin her tears and running outside to find him.

Naruto's clone watched from outside with ice cold blue eyes, before he expelled in a cloud of dust.

_"What?!" The ANBU thought."Shadow clones? I must report this to the Hokage!"_

**SCENE CHANGE**_  
><em>

_"Ahhh... My head...Wait that cave!" _Naruto jumped off the floor, trying to identify where he was when a giant orange paw suddenly forced him to the floor.

"Easy there, Young one." said a giant feline face towards Naruto.

Naruto blinked hard, before accepting the fact that there was a face of a giant tiger only a few inches away from his face._ "Was I drugged?"_

"No, No you weren't." Laughed the Tiger. causing Naruto to almost cover his ear drums from the booming sound.

The tiger slowly let Naruto get up. out of no where, an orange blur flew to Naruto's face, causing him to be forced onto the floor for the third time.

"You're awake! You're awake!" Squeaked a high pitch voice.

Naruto picked up the fur ball on his face before seeing that it was."You!? You can talk?" he said shocked at the tiger cub that was now leaning to lick his cheek.

"Ask all of your questions when we are in a more... comfortable area, Young one". The tiger said before picking him up by the back of the collar of his shirt and carrying him out of the room and into a corridor.

_"Okay Naruto, just calm down. Maybe this is a genjutsu or something._"

"I assure you, young one, you are not in any genjutsu. Nor are you in any danger." The tiger bellowed, dropping on him the floor of another room."Any questions you have, you can ask now."

"Um, okay" Naruto said, awkwardly. "First, how did I get here? And where is here anyway?"

"When you entered the cave," The giant cat began. "You did not know now that it was actually a transdimensenal gateway, between the shinobi world and the world ruled by animal clans. The moment the seals detected you with Akira-chan here,"He said motioning toward the lttle cub that was jumping around them."They activated to transport you to our home land. You are now in home the Tiger clan, situated on mount Kiba kagayaku (Glowing fang). You wouldn't have come here if Akira had listened to me about the gateway." He scolded her.

Akira stopping jumping and instead looked down at the floor, her ears drooping down.

"Ok, but why am I still here?" He asked confused. "Wouldn't you have killed me or send me back or something?"

"Other than the fact that you need to be conscious for the transportation to take place? Akira had told me an interesting story on how you had saved her from a forest fire."

Naruto's eyes widened when he remembered the cub pinned down by the branch.

"As you had saved the heiress of the Tiger clan, we cannot allow your deeds to go unrewarded.

"Please Father," Akira asked with her big cat eyes. "Please make him our summoner."

"Summoner?" Asked Naruto, shocked.

The giant tiger sighed before answering." While that is what we would have done, our summoner must be a sage to be able to summon us. Unlike normal creatures, we are made of entirely Nature chakra, and only that chakra can be used to summon us into your world. Sadly, the last true sage was the Rikudou Sennin, and people who are considered sages these days, like that Jiraiya, have not completely embraced Nature chakra.

Naruto listened carefully, before pointing out. "Well, I can use nature chakra."

The giant feline almost looked like he was smiling. "Yes, I could smell the forest within you. It is very rare for a person to manipulate nature chakra and even rarer for one as young as yourself to possibly wield the Sage mode. However, I wish for you to stop using it, unless the it is in a dire situation. If nature chakra flows inside a body as young as yours, the chakra pathways could get damaged.

Naruto hid his shock but nodded sadly before his eyes widened as memories of his shadow clone returned to him."_Kushina... " _"I apologize if this sounds rude but is it possible for me to leave and come back later?" He asked trying his best to sound respectful.

The giant tiger gave another booming chuckle before nodding. He slammed his paw onto the ground and in a puff of smoke a small but thick scroll appeared."This scroll will help you to find the cave to come to our world as well as return to yours. It hasn't been used for a long time, so take good care of it."

Naruto took the scroll carefully before pocketing it and smiling. "Thank you. I hope we can talk more soon."

"So do I, young one. You are quite an interesting fellow." The feline said, with a smile on his face.

"You never told me your name." Naruto realized.

"Its Tora." He said, his tail twitching.

"Quite original, don't you think?" Naruto smiled.

"Yes it is, but it is what my old friends from your world called me." He sighed sadly remembering the memories of their deaths.

"Okay then, goodbye Tora-san, Akira-chan."

"Goodbye Naruto" they said together before Akira climbed up to his face And licked his cheeks.

"Visit us soon" She said, rubbing her head against his.

"I will." He promised.

**Scene change**

Kushina cursed at herself, as she looked around the village for Naruto. She couldn't keep her mouth shut and now Naruto had left her. She had buried all of her anger inside, and when Naruto had come had the wrong time she had said those hurtful words towards him.

No matter how much she looked, she couldn't find a glimpse of orange hair.

_"I'm sorry for what I said Naruto..."_

"Boo!"

Kushina screamed from the sudden scare and was about to hit the source of the sound before noticing the familiar face and orange hair.

"Naruto?" She said shocked.

Before Naruto could even speak, Kushina had tackled him, yelling 'I'm so sorry' again and again. She hugged him as tight as she could. She couldn't stop a few tears from leaving her eyes. Relief flooded her brain when Naruto returned the hug. When she finally let go, she saw that his eyes were now happy and cheerful, unlike the cold ones that glared at her.

"Naruto, I'm-"

"Kushina, lets just forget what happned this morning okay?" Naruto interrupted, a smile still attached to his face.

"But, how can you forgive? I said those horrible things and how can you just say it's okay?" Kushina cried.

Naruto just smiled at her before ruffling her hair and saying "I can never stay mad at you."

Their happy moment was cut short when 3 ANBUs suddenly appeared.

"Genin Naruto, the Hokage wants to see you."

**AN/: Sorry for not updating yesterday. Its kinda hard to balance everything. I might not update everyday during the weekdays but expect more frequent updates on weekends. Please leave a review.**


	6. Chapter 6

"What?! Why?" Kushina raged, as the ANBUs approached.

"Its all right, Kushina-chan." Naruto said, calming her down. "Okay, ANBU-san, but may I ask why?"

The rat- masked ANBU said, "All your questions will be answered at the hokages office."

Kushina's anger disappeared but worry was visible on her face. "Relax Kushina-chan, I'll be back soon." Naruto said completely relaxed. "Wait for me back at your apartment, okay?"

Kushina nodded before walking away. Naruto turned back to the ANBU.

"So, off we go go?"

**Hokage office**

"So Hokage-sama, why did you want to see me?" Naruto said, trying to act like as if he didn't know.

Hiruzen glared at Naruto before speaking. "This morning, one of my ANBUs witnessed you performing the Shadow clone jutsu. A Konoha kinjutsu. How is it that you, a person who doesn't have any memories is able to performed it."

Naruto dropped his act before answering, " I've told you, Hokage-sama, my body still remembers it's on memories. Perhaps, someone from Konoha had taught me that jutsu, or maybe I found out by accident. Besides, I never knew that it was a Konoha jutsu.

Hiruzen couldn't detect any lies in the boy words. As most memories were sealed, the only explanation would be muscle memory. "I also have another question Naruto."

"What is it?" Naruto asked. _"I didn't leave a trail, did I...?"_

"You had also left the village walls in the morning. You can't deny it. The village's... sensors detected your chakra leaving the village. Genins are not allowed to leave the village at any time. What did you do?"

A bit of sweat came out of Naruto's forehead. _"Were one of the ANBU a sensor? But the shadow clone had the same chakra signature as me."_

"Hokage-sama," He began, thinking of an excuse. "Kushina and I had come across a tiger cub. She didn't want it to be left alone and wanted to keep it. I convinced her that the parents were probably looking for it and I went out of the village walls to find them."

The Hokage lifted an eyebrow. _"A tiger cub? That would have been a horrible lie. The ANBU did say about a cat walking inside their apartment."_

Hiruzen sighed, still not finding any signs of a spy in Konoha. "Thank you Naruto for being co-operative. You can return to whatever you were doing."

Naruto gave a mental pat to the back for the excuse he gave. It was the half truth, and even if they had asked Kushina they would get the same answer.. He took a few steps before he stopped and turned back to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, I know that the village is almost at war with the other villages, I understand that you don't trust me and that I might be a spy for another village. But believe me when I say that I am not one. I can't remember much but I do know that I would never try to destroy peace inside a village, even it is enemies with mine." Naruto left without another word.

Hiruzen sighed. _"Sensei would have wanted me to give him a chance. Even though his village was at war, he was always ready to trust anyone. But that also lead him to his death."_

**Scene change**

"Kushina-chan?" Naruto called as he entered her apartment.

"I'm in the kitchen Naruto-kun" She called back.

_"Kitchen? Wait, she can cook?!"_

The moment Naruto entered the kitchen, a heavenly armoma filled his nose. He saw Kushina stirring something in a pot on the stove. He slowly peered over her shoulder and saw that it was filed with ramen, along with some meat and vegetables.

"Kushina-chan, why didn't you tell me that you could cook?" He asked still staring at the food.

A small blush filled Kushina's face as she answered. "Well... nobody other than me has actually tried it, so I didn't think that I was good."

"Good? Kushina-chan, your cooking must be amazing! Just the smell is making my stomach growl..."

Naruto continued to rant about how her cooking is awesome. Kushina blushed when he complimeted her cooking skills, before pouring some of the ramen into two bowls and setting them on the table.

Kushina watched as Naruto took in some of the noodles, blew them before putting a bit in his mouth.

.

.

She had to make more because Naruto _accidentally _finished the whole pot.

"Kushina-chan?" Asked Naruto, after finally having enough ramen. "I was wondering if we could do some D-rank missions so I could get some money to buy clothes and stuff?"

"Okay" Kushina said, putting her bowl down aswell. "But be prepared to be bored as hell."

**Time skip after missions**

_"The missions may have been boring. But that's NOTHING compared to this." _Naruto had finally finished shopping and had bought clothes and other items. He and Kushina had managed to put there extra money together to buy a spare mattress for Naruto.

But perhaps taking a girl shopping wasn't the best idea as Naruto had to wait hours for Kushina to finish hers.

"Kushina-chan" He whined. "Can we please go now?"

"Just another minute Naruto-kun" She answered for the billionth time.

It was at this moment that a light bulb went off on top of Narutos head.

"Well, Kushina-chan, if we take anymore tme we won't be able to get any training for you today."Naruto said innocently, hiding his smirk.

"What?!" Kushina asked, surprised, finally taking her eyes of the shops.

"Haven't you seen the time?" He asked.

"Shit!" She cursed, before grabbing Naruto and dragging him towards their apartment.

"Kushina, slow down!" Naruto yelled as she nearly ran into her apartment block.

She continued to pull him into her apartment before she finally stopped.

"I'm gonna change!" She yelled as she ran inside her room.

Naruto seperated both of their bags and putting the mattress in the corner.

He waited a few minutes, and Kushna came out. She wore her regular shinobi clothes, consisting of grey pants and a normal dark shirt. Naruto took some of his bags inside the room to change, he had bought a black shirt, and a pair of pants in a dark shade of blue along with two ninja pouches (Kunais and shurikens included).

"Okay Kushina, ready for some training?" Naruto said, amused at how Kushina was shaking with excitement.

"Yup, let's go!" She shouted and together they ran towards a training ground, with Naruto following Kushina.

**At Training ground**

"Kushina, I thought it was supposed to be empty." Naruto whispered.

They had arrived at the training ground but weren't expecting to see three other genins, training there. He noticed how Kushina's fist clenched the moment they saw a brown haired boy standing there

"They aren't supposed to be here" She growled, before marching towards them.

"Oi! All of you! Get out of here and go to your training ground!"

The group of genins turned quickly turned to her with an expression of fear. But that quickly turned to a smug smirk when they saw who it is.

"Hey guys, look who it is! It's tomato-chan! You actually thought you could come here alone against all of us?"

"She is not alone." Naruto said, standing next to her. "And stop calling her that."

"What are you, her boyfriend?" He shot back

That comment made Kushina's cheeks burn red.

Naruto stayed calm and spoke "We don't want any trouble. As this is not your training ground please leave."

The brown haired boy laughed. "What? You think you can beat us? I challenge you to a spar!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Accepted."

Before the genin could even get in a stance, Naruto had sweeped his legs of the ground, and held a kunai near his neck.

"Hey! I-I wasn't ready!"

"Is that would you would tell if you were in a real fight? That you weren't ready?"

The boys cheeks turned red in embarresment before he took his friends and left.

"Thanks Naruto-kun." Kushina told. "For defending me."

Naruto's stoic look fell before being replaced by a goofy grin. "No problem Kushina-chan. I told I won't let them do that to you again. Okay then, shall we get started?"

Kushina straightened and spoke in an enthusiastic voice. "Hai, Naruto sensei!"

Naruto smiled,_ "Naruto-sensei... I could get used to that"._ "Okay Kushina I want you to attack me with all you got. Dont hold anything back."

Kushina nodded before running at him in full speed. Naruto bent his knees and put his hand infront of him.

Kushina threw a roundhouse kick at Naruto's head which he quickly ducked under. She quickly attacked him again by throwing a fist at his stomach. Naruto sidestepped it before throwing a punch at kushina's face. Kushina managed to dodge it, barely. She went back a few steps and threw a few kunai at him. Kushina was shocked when instead of dodging them, he spun and caught them with his fingers before throwing them back at her. Not prepared for such a counterattack, she crossed her arms infront of her. The kunais made a few shallow cuts on her arms but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She turned towards where Naruto was but instead she saw a cloud of dust.

Immediately she took a defensive stance and waited for an attack to come. But instead the cloud dispersed to reveal... nothing.

_"What?!"_ Thought Kushina. _"Where is he? Left? Right?_ Up?"

Suddenly, a pair of hands burst out of the ground and caught her legs. Kushina was too startled to try to shake them off and so they pulled her into the ground till her head.

Naruto bursted out of the ground and looked at Kushina with a slightly smug smirk. "Well, Kushina? Is that it?"

Kushina struggled a bit but she realized that she couldn't get out of the hole. "Just cause I'm stuck in the hole doesn't mean i can't hit you!"

Kushina closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Naruto was confused but it turned to surprise when chains exploded out of the ground and wrapped around him. But before they could get a proper grip, he managed to substitue himself with a log.

"Well Kushina, I must admit those chakra chains caught me by surprise, but you can still get a lot better." He walked towards her and pulled her out of the hole."It may not have looked like it but I could have killed you several times. When I caught the kunais, I could have put some poison on the when I spun. When I caught you underground, I could have killed you just then. Even if those chains caught me, I could have used them against you."

Kushina felt a bit of anger rising for Naruto criticising her but pushed the feeling aside. _"He's right. But thats why he's here. To help me get stronger."_

"So the first jutsu your going to learn will be **The Shadow Clone Jutsu**. It makes an exact solid clone of the user and all memories and experience you gain, except any physical ones, will be transfered to you. This can give a huge boost in your training. But it costs a lot of chakra and may cause you to suffer from chakra exhaustion and don't tell anyone about it. Also I don't want you to try to make any more than 4 clones. Okay?"

Kushina nodded, excited to get such an awesome jutsu. Naruto told her the hand signs. "When you finish or get really exhasted, come to that river. I'll be training over there."

Kushina frowned. "What, you think I can't do the jutsu?"

Naruto grinned. "I wouldn't say can't do. Let's just say that practice makes perfect.

Naruto walked away to the river while leaving Kushina to practice.

_"How hard can it be?"_ She thought making the handsign.

A dead clone poofed into existence.

_"Okay maybe it'll take a while."_

**Scene change**_  
><em>

Naruto walked near the river and quickly hid behind a tree. He made a shadow clone, reinforced with chakra.

_"She'll take a few hours at most to master the jutsu."_ He thought.

He took out a scroll from his pocket. The scroll Tora had given him. He opened it to find a note.

_The portal has a cool down time of 1 week._

_"Oh" _Naruto thought. _"I guess I can't meet them for a while."_ Instead of dispelling the clone, he sent it to watch the mistakes Kushina was making. He could already hear her screams of frustration.

_"I guess I should start training too"_

He made four more shadow clones. One would spar against himself on the river. Two of them would try water manipulation on the river. This would make the spar even more tougher. The last one was sent to the library to read through the history books on Konoha and maybe some with water manipulation tips or the Shinobi history.

His clone and himself both walked on the surface of the water and took a stance.

_"I have to get stronger" _

Somewhere deep in his mind, a miniscule crack appeared on the memory seal.

**With Kushina, After a few hours.**

"Goddamn! Why won't this stupid jutsu work!"

Kushinahad been trying to do the shadow clone jutsu but each time she tried, she had either put too little or too much chakra. The clones always looked dead or exploded after a few seconds.

"Pant*" "_ Maybe I should ask Naruto-kun for help" _She thought.

Has she walked towards the river, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched. But each time she looked around, she didn't see anything. The ANBU in the tree was to well hidden for her to notice.

When she finally found Naruto, her jaw opened in surprise. The once gentle river, was now raging and Naruto could by seen sparring against... himself?

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" One of the carbon copies called.

Naruto walked out of the river while dispelling the other clones except the one at the library. "So Kushina-chan, do you want my awesome advice already?"

Kushina hesitated for a second before answering in a grudging voice. "Yes..."

Naruto smirked for a second before giving her some advice. "Your putting too much or too little chakra right?"

"Yeah but-"

"Wrong" Naruto interrupted. "The Shadow Clone Jutsu doesn't require much chakra control. The mistake you were making was that you weren't dividing any chakra into the clones. You just took a chunk of chakra and shaped it into a clone. But, that exploding clone of yours could be useful. Try to divide your chakra this time."

Kushina stared at him in surprise before punching him on his head. "You Baka! You didn't tell me that when you were explaining the jutsu!"

Naruto laughed sheepishly rubbing his head. "Hehe I wanted you to find out yourself."

Kushina looked at him questioningly before once again trying the jutsu. This time when the smoke cleared, a carbon copy of Kushina stood their.

"Yes! We finally mastered that Jutsu!" She squealed high five-ing her clone. She was surprised when the clone burst into smoke the moment her hand came in contacts with its.

"Wha-? I thought the clones would burst only by a strong blow." She looked towards Naruto who looked towards her in confusion.

"You didn't know? Kushina-chan, ever since the training began you've being channeling a lot of chakra to your fists. I thought you noticed."

"I have?" She asked. Only then did she noticed the increase in the chakra flow in her hands and cut it off. She suddenly felt bad. "Sorry for hitting you Naruto-kun. I should've controlled my temper."

Naruto just grinned. "It's alright Kushina-chan. I have a higher pain tolerance than most people. But back to the point, do you ever channel chakra in your fist when you train?"

Kushina thought for a moment before she spoke. "Oh yeah, I used to do that when I practice using my chakra chains."

Naruto looked at her with a serious expression. "How often do you practice that?

"Everyday I think."

"I want you to stop." Seeing that she was about to argue, Naruto continued. "Kushina if you keep channeling chakra in you fist, there will be some side effects. Best case scenario, your fists will just get bigger. Worst case, they might explode from too much chakra being channeled inside. Your just a teenager, Kushina-chan, so any changes in your body now will affect your whole life."

Kushina looked trouble by the news, but nodded.

Naruto decided they had enough training for the day. "Let's go back to the apartment, okay?"

Kushina nodded. And together they walked back to their home.

_"So if the boy is a spy, he wants to do something with the Uzumaki heiress," _Thought the ANBU.

AN/: Took me sometime to type this but I managed to do it. Pm me for any mistakes and please drop a review.


	7. Chapter 7

The clone at the library finally dispersed and sent all what it had learned to Naruto. _"Whoa, Kushina's clan was really powerful... But I don't understand how they got destroyed. Konoha could have saved them. Their villages are closer than the others, so why didn't the Konoha reinforcements reach..."_

"Naruto-kun?"

Kushina's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She was looking at him expectantly.

"Um, could you repeat that?"

A tick mark grew on her forehead as she realized that he hadn't heard anything she was saying. "I asked what you wanted to eat. I would have made something, but you finished everything at lunch."

Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Does that mean we have to buy some groceries or something?"

Kushina looked at the setting sun. "At this time? The shops are probably closed. I guess we have to go out to eat." "_Damn he's gonna think I'm asking him on a date or something..." _She thought as a small blush filled her face.

"Hmm, do we have enough money for that?" He said, oblivious to what was going in Kushina's head.

I still have allot of money left so I'm sure we could afford it." She spoke taking out her wallet.

Naruto would have argued but knew Kushina had made up her mind, and when she had, you couldn't change it.

"Kushina?" A voice called out.

They turned around to see a raven haired girl walking towards them. Kushina quickly ran over to meet her.

"Mikoto-chan! Where were you? I haven't seen you for ages!"

The girl just smiled sadly. "Tou-san has been making me train alot more than usual. He says that because of the war, I should be ready for anything."

The two girls continued to chat, as Naruto stood there awkwardly. Noticing how uncomfortable Naruto was, Kushina introduced him to Mikoto.

"Mikoto-chan, this is Naruto. Naruto this is Mikoto Uchiha."

_"So this is an Uchiha..."_

"Hey." Naruto greeted, shaking hands with her. He noticed how a cold look appeared on her face as she looked at him. "Well, Kushina-chan, I have to go. Come and visit me sometime.

As Mikoto walked away, Naruto looked at Kushina, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No. She's like that to everyone. It took me a long time for me to crack open her shield, but I managed to do it.

They walked back to their apartment, and went to take a shower and change into their usual clothing. As Naruto waited for Kushina to finish, he noticed something at the comer of his eye, something behind.

_"A book? That's weird. I didn't think Kushina-chan was the reading type._

He approached the cupboard and saw that it was indeed a book. It had an old look as the colour of the cover seemed to have faded and had a few papers were sticking out. The word FUINJUTSU was written in black paint and an image of a swirl. The Uzumaki clan symbol_  
><em>

_"Of course. It was her clans speciality..."_

Before Naruto could pick up the book, Kushin came out of the shower. "Your turn, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto left the book, and took his clothes. _"It's her stuff, I shouldn't touch it."_

**At the restaurant**

Naruto and Kushina stood infront of the 'Golden leaf'. It had a fancy name but the restaurant was like any you would see in the street. They walked side by side inside and sat next to an empty table.

Meanwhile, Naruto was thinking about Uzushiogakure. The book had reminded him about the now destroyed clan. _"How could the Konoha reinforcements not have reached in time. Actually, how did Kushina reach Konoha safely without any shinobi after her?"_

"Hello?" A hand waved infront of his face, breaking his trail of thoughts.

"Um, sorry Kushina-chan, I was just thinking about something." He said sheepishly.

Kushina raised an eyebrow, looking at him suspiciously. "You've been thinking alot lately. What are you up to?"

Naruto was about to tell her, but just then his sensors picked up an ANBU stationed near their location. "_Really?! They still don't trust me?!"_ He sighed out of annoyance, something that Kushina noticed.

"What happened?" She asked, getting irritated for not getting an answer.

Naruto leaned towards her and whispered. "There's an ANBU watching us. Just act normal."

He leaned back on to his chair and picked up his menu, his eyes scanning through the meals. He looked up to see Kushina's eyes staring at him in shock. He couldn't stop a chuckle from leaving his lips from her expression.

"Relax Kushina. Let's just eat something and go back to the apartment."

She nodded in reply before picking up the menu. An awkward silence soon fell over them as they ordered their food. Naruto rapped his knuckles on the table, thinking of a way to start the conversation.

"So Kushina-chan, I noticed that you have a book on Fuinjutsu." Naruto said.

Kushina's eyes brightened at his choice of topic. "Yup! It was a family book that teaches you all about fuinjutsu. People say that its a tough art but it isn't when you think about it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean? I thought that there are only a few sealing masters in the world."

"The book only teaches you the basics about sealing. People think its tough because there has never been a book about advanced sealing, only ones for beginners. But what they don't know is that there is nothing as advanced sealing, it depends on the sealer."

"So you mean, it depends on how the user thinks?"

"Exactly!" Kushina smiled. "If the sealer has a wild imagination, he can come up with new seals. The beginners book teaches you how to make a seal, but its what you do that makes a seal complex."

It was at that moment that their meal arrived.

Almost immediately they both began to inhale their food. It caused people to stare at their lack of table manners as well as the identical way they were eating.

**After dinner **

"Naruto-kun." Kushina whispered as they walked back home. "What were you telling about the ANBU?"

Naruto could still feel the ANBU nearby, but because he wasn't near hearing range he decided to tell her.

"The Hokage thinks that I might be a spy for another village so those ANBUs keep tailing me."

Kushina couldn't stop a frown from appearing on her face. _"So that's why the Hokage keeps summoning him." _

"Now tell me why you were so serious at dinner. What were you thinking about?"

Naruto stopped walking and looked at Kushina. "I know about what happened to your clan Kushina-chan, and this might sound strange but I was thinking about how Konoha reinforcements couldn't have reached in time."

A sad look grew on Kushina's face. "That's exactly what I thought. but I know that Konoha would never betray Uzu but i can't find any other reason. So the only explanation is that the message didn't get in time."

Naruto looked Kushina in the eye. "But then how did you escape from the attack?"

Kushina had a calm expression outside but in the inside she was panicking like hell. _"What do I say?! What do I say?!" _"I came in a Konoha before the attack. I came here to... Visit my grandmother Mito Uzumaki."

"You mean the Shodai Hokage's wife?"

Kushina nodded, sighing internally when Naruto believed her.

Their apartment block came into view, making Naruto remember something.

"Kushina-chan, could I read that Fuinjutsu book? I've never done sealing before."

"Sure" Kushina smiled. "I have an extra set of ink and a brush in my room."

**Time skip, a week later ( I can't write for every single day!)**

Naruto and Kushina could be seen sparring against each other in their usual training ground. Kushina's skills had drastically improved as well as Naruto's skills in Fuinjutsu.

"Stop" Naruto said, ducking under another punch.

Kushina collapsed onto the floor, panting. "_Even after using shadow clones, I still can't land a hit on him..." _Naruto helped her onto her feet before turning towards the bushes "I know you're there you know!" He shouted.

In a few seconds, a blond boy appeared out of the bushes, his face filled with a blush of embarrasment for being caught.

"Minato?" Kushina called out, causing His face to turn even redder. "Why were you spying on us?!"

Minato's eyes were fixed to the ground when he answered. "W-Well my sensei goes out of the village a lot, and no one is there to teach me."

"So?" Kushina questioned with a stern glare.

"Well, um, I thought I could learn if I watched you guys." He answered in a small voice when he noticed how closer they were standing to him.

Kushina looked ready to shout at him, when Naruto cut her off, "If you wanted to learn, you should've just asked. I would have gladly taught you." He smiled.

Minato looked at him gratefully while Kushina looked at him in rage.

"But" Naruto spoke, tensing under Kushina's anger. "Our training for today is over. Come tomorrow at around noon."

"Thank you!" Minato smiled. "I promise I wont burden you in your training."

The moment Minato was out of hearing range, Kushina exploded.

"What is wrong with you?!" She screamed. "That was the same guy who-!"

"Who did what?" Naruto interrupted glaring at Kushina. "He hasn't done anything to you Kushina. He came here asking us help in his trainnig and I said I would help. Just cause he hasnt helped you before Kushina doesn't mean he is a bad person."

Kushina was shocked. That was the first time Naruto was arguing with her. She felt some of her anger ebb away, replaced by guilt. "Sigh* I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but don't expect me to talk to him!" And with that she marched away.

Naruto shook his head, a smile growing on his lips before he too walked with Kushina back to their apartment.

**AN:/ I'm sorry if this chapter seems really rushed. I've been having a busy days lately (reason on profile:) and I just managed to do this. Btw THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 100 FOLLOWERS! I never thought my story would ever get that much attention. Pm me if there is a mistake, and please leave a review. **


	8. Chapter 8

"Are you ready?" Naruto asked Minato as they readied for their spar.

Kushina watched from the side with a grumpy expression. She still hadn't gotten over that Minato would join them in their training.

The spar ended quite quickly, at least for Naruto, but he had understood Minato's fighting style and the size of his chakra reserve.

"Minato" he said helping the exhausted teen onto his feet. " I'm guessing your a mid ranged fighter with long ranged ninjutsu. normal tai jutsu while genjutsu is non existent?

Minato nodded, shocked at how easily Naruto analysed him.

Naruto thought for a moment, before looking at Kushina and back at Minato. He made a wordless shadow clone.

"Kushina" He called out. "The clone will continue your training while I start Minato's."

Minato looked in awe as the solid clone walked to Kushina. "_What?! How come he gets to train with the original?!" _Kushina screamed mentally. She didn't give any sign that she was listening to Naruto but instead just left with his clone.

A creepy smile grew on Naruto's face. "Are you ready?"

**A Half an hour later**

Minato pant heavily from behind a tree. "_This guy is crazy!"_ He yelled mentally. "_But it is pretty good training."_

"Did you forget the first rule already?"

Minato's blood ran cold when he heard that voice.

"Never stop moving!"

**Kushina**

Kushina smirked when she heard the sounds emitting from the forest. "_Well he did ask to train with us..." _She thought evilly

**Back with Minato**

He ran alond the tress, dodging the kunais flying in random directions. "_How they hell did he put these up so fast?!"_

At that moment, the branch from underneath him exploded. He fell down hard to the ground. When he looked up he saw...

_"Shit!"_

A flash bomb.

A blinding bright light filled up the forest area, immediately causing Minato to close his eyes. But it still didn't stop the light from blinding him

All he could see was fuzzy and blurred. He tried to move from the forest floor, but only managed to whack his face straight into a tree.

"Give up?"

Minato quickly took out a kunai and wielded it infront of him. He closed his eyes and focused chakra to his ears.

_Flashback _

_"Whenever you cant see your opponent, focus chakra to your other senses to find him", Jiraiya said in one of his few moments of seriousness._

_Flachback end_

Minato listened carefully, trying to locate Naruto. He heard a small thud above him and threw his kunai. "_That wouldn't have hit him." _He thought grimly. _"But it must have atleast surprised him."_

He took the moment of distraction to try and run. His vision was becoming clearer as he was able to avoid the paths with explosive seals.

_"Where did he get all of these?"_

Just when he thought he made some distance from Naruto, his foot got caught by a wire.

_"Are you serious!?"_

He fell down again. The wire seemed to trigger a trap, as shurikens and kunais seemed to fly in ever direction. Suddenly, two of them pinned him to the tree.

Naruto walked jumped down from the tree with a smile. "Good work. You lasted longer than Kushina, but you weren't really careful of your sense of direction. You should try to predict what you opponent would do. You were starting to fall for more of my traps But I have to admit, you surprised me when you focused chakra to your ears to find me."

Minato's eyes brightened when he heard a compliment. His happy moment was short lived when he saw what the time was.

"Damn! Sorry Naruto but I have go! Jiraiya sensei is probably waiting for me!"

Naruto watched as Minato ran off. A smile appeared on his face when he realized that he was starting to sound like a teacher.

He thought about helping Kushina but dismissed the thought. Instead he made a shadow clone to spar against.

**After training**

"What?!" Kushina yelled in disbelief. "He lasted longer than me?"

"Yeah" Naruto replied.

They were back at their apartment, having a bite to eat, when Naruto had told Kushina that Minato is probably stronger than her.

She stopped eating her food, and left to her room when she heard the news. Naruto was confused as to why she was so upset with it. He was getting concerned when she didn't come out for 30 minutes.

He knocked the door and was surprised when it opened by itself. The room was empty but the window was open. On the bed was a note.

_Off to train some more._

**Kushina**

Kushina was sparring against two shadow clones. Her skin was slightly bruised and cut from where she got hit. There was a lot of dirt on her clothes, as well as tears.

"I won't let him overtake me."

She remembered when she was in the academy. Everyone in the academy was laughing at her when she proclaimed that she will be the first female Hokage. Everyone except Minato. Instead he stood up and said he would also be Hokage one day. Maybe she did it unintentionally, but she started seeing him as a rival. An obstacle to overcome. And when Naruto said that he was stronger than her. Some thing inside of her snapped and she didn't want her to be weaker than him. She had a sudden strive to become even stronger.

Naruto watched from the shadows. A smile flickered onto his lips, seeing how hard Kushina was training. _"So she sees him as a rival, huh?" _ Bur he was confused as to why she didn't tell him where she was going.

The light in the area was quickly fading as the moon began to rise. He expected Kushina to stop but she just kept on fighting her clones. _"If she keeps on making more she is gonna faint."_ Naruto thought, disappointed at Kushina for not listening to his advice.

His prediction came through when Kushina's body suddenly tensed up, before falling straight on the floor, unconcious. Naruto sighed at her foolishness before jumping down. His sensors picked up 5 ANBUs surrounding him. He waited for them to attack him when he realized that they were waiting for him to make the first move.

He picked up Kushina bridal style. He could almost feel the ANBUs waiting to release their jutsus. It was obvious that they weren't the ones fighting the war and were bored with their duties inside Konoha.

When he started moving back towards the house, the ANBU's were so disappointed that some of them were visible. Three of the five were hidden under the bushes. As he continued to walk back, he felt some of the ANBUs leave until only two were left.

_"What do I have to do to earn their trust?" _Naruto thought irritatedly.

He felt Kushina shift her body a bit. As he stared at her face, he thought, "_If she keeps her spirit like this, she is going to become a great shinobi.__  
><em>

The Konoha streets were empty, so no one was there, except the ANBUs, to question why he was carrying Kushina. He walked inside their apartment, and gently laid her onto the bed. He covered her with the blanket before leaving the room to sleep.

**Morning**

Kushina's eye fluttered open. She was surprised when she saw her bed wasnt a mess. She had a habit of moving in her sleep and when moring came, her bed was always a mess.

She jumped out of bed, and yelped when she immediately face planted.

_"What the? Why am I so tired?"_ She thought. _"Oh yeah, yesterday I went overboard with the training"_

She pushed herself onto her feet and leaned towards the wall. Her stomach felt quesy and she felt like she was going to puke any second.

Taking a risk, She ran to the bathroom. She made it just in time as her stomach forced her to empty itself.

When she finished, she felt disgusted at herself. She readied herself and came out of the bathroom when there was a knock on her door.

"Kushina? Are you done, umm, emptying your stomach?"

Kushina's face glowed red. "W-What?!" She shrieked.

"Well, come out when you're done. I need to talk to you."

Kushina supported herself using the walls and walked out of the room, still red faced.

Naruto saw Kushina come out of her room, her hand holding the wall, and her face a mixture of red and light green.

"So, how do you feel?" He asked sarcastically.

"Like shit." She answered anyway, plopping down on a chair, holding her stomach.

"That's what you get for not listening to me. I told you not to overuse the shadow clones." He lectured.

"I know." She said, ashamed. "I was just annoyed when you said that Minato was stronger than me and..." She stopped.

"And?"

"I didn't want him to be stronger than me. I thought for sure that I was stronger even if he has a Sannin for a sensei." She whispered quietly.

Naruto put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand Kushina, but you need to be able to control your emotions. You're a shinobi, and if your emotions get better of you then you _will_ die."

Noticing how depressed she was becoming, he changed the subject. "I made breakfast for you."

When they entered the kitchen, Naruto gave her the sandwich he made. Surprisingly, it was good.

"So what do we do?" She asked, finishing her food.

"Well, I'm going to go for a walk, while you rest." He replied.

"What?! That's not fair! I don't want to be stuck inside that house while you get to do whatever you want."

"You need rest Kushina-chan." He said not looking up from his food.

"But-"

"No buts" He interrupted. "You will stay here."

"Fine." She said crossing her arms, and walking back to her room.

"It's for her own good." He thought.

**Near konoha wall, after 10 mintutes.**

_"How can I shake them off_?" He wondered, sensing the ANBUs near him again. _ "They can tell if I leave the vilage walls."_

Naruto had been trying to leave the village and visit the Tiger clan, but the ANBU had been following him like crazy.

_"Wait! Maybe I can try this."_

He quickly turned to a corner and made a shadow clone, with the tiniest sliver of chakra that he could muster. The clone then took the scroll, and transformed into a cat.

_While they might have been able to sense me, they probably cant sense a cat with a normal chakra level._ He thought.

Feeling the ANBU watching him, he bent dow and petted the kitten. The clone was not amused and hissed at him and scampered off.

_"Hopefully the tigers won't get offended that I couldn't personally visit them. I guess I'll just walk around the Konoha then."_

**Back with Kushina**

_"Naruto-kun trusts me too much,"_ She thought smugly, as she walked near the Uchiha compound.

The moment Naruto had left the apartment, she had ran out of her room. Which was a bad idea as she almost puked. She was looking around to see if she could hang out with Mikoto

She passed the police guards who didn't question her. They had gotten used to her coming there. She watched the little kids running around the place while their parents watched. While no one could deny the fact that the Uchiha were arrogant, once you get to know them, they were surprisingly kind people.

"Kushina-chan" A voice called out.

She turned around to see Mikoto standing behind her.

"Mikoto-chan! How are you?"

"I'm fine. You know, you don't really look well."

"Um, its nothing. I just ate too much ramen." She lied.

"So, who was that guys yesterday?" Mikoto asked with a confused expression.

"Oh, you mean Naruto-kun? I met him... When he was training in my field!"

Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "I never saw him at the academy."

Sweat was beginning to form on Kushina's forehead. "Well... He was a refugee! He came to Konoha looking to start a new life away from the war and he got interested in the ninja system."

Mikoto didn't seem to believe her but decided to drop the subject. "Okay. So you want to spar?"

Just the word spar was enough to make her want to puke again. "Sorry but not today."

Mikoto was shocked. _"Did she just decline a fight?"_

"Are you okay Kushina-chan?" Mikoto asked.

Kushina clutched her stomach. "I'm fine, but I dont really feel like having a spar right now. How about we just walk around Konoha?"

"Sure"

**With the clone**

"Hello again Tora-sama" The shadow clone greeted.

"Please no formalities, just call me Tora." The great Tiger said.

"Naruto! Naruto!" Akira exclaimed running around him in circles. Suddenly, she stopped runing before sniffing him. "Hey! You're just a shadow clone!"

Tora smiled with a twinkle in his eye. "Very good Akira, your senses are getting sharper. Did something happened to the original?" He asked the clone.

"Well you see, the leader of the village doesn't trust me so he keeps sending his ninjas to spy on me. The original couldn't come out because of his chakra level being high, so he made me with only a tiny amount of chakra."

Tora gained a stern look in his eye. "You should be very glad that I am the leader. If it was any other Tiger, you would have been ripped to shreds for how disrespectful this would be.."

Naruto bowed, "I apologize Tora but it was the only way I could communicate with you."

Tora lost his stern look and gave a grandfatherly smile."Its all right Naruto-kun. But tell me what is troubling you. You seem to have alot on you mind."

The clone sighed before sitting down. Akira jumped onto his lap and curled herself, purring. "I don't really know where to start. You see..."

** He tells everything that has happened to him at this point :P**

"Kushina? Kushina Uzumaki?" Tora bellowed.

"Um, yea?" Naruto asked, shocked at seeing the old Tiger shouting.

"No... They told me she was..." Tora thought. Naruto sat there confused.

"Tora, can you tell me what happened?" Naruto asked.

Tora gave him a grim look. "Better, I'll _show _ you.

Seals lit up the room again.

_Flashback_

_Uzushiogakure was being invaded. Iwa, Kiri and Kumo had signed an alliance to destroy Uzu because of their fear of the seal masters. _

_Broken buildings and craters were spread everywhere. The Uzu shinobi were focusing their chakra into a barrier seal to protect themselves from enemies. The barrier looked healthy but the ninjas did not._

_"Tora!"_

_The Sandaime Uzukage stood in front of a giant tiger, a scroll in his hands._

_"I mean no disrespect, but please send this to Konoha. We need reinforcements."_

_"This is the home of the Tigers aswell as the Uzumakis Uzukage! There is no time to get reinforcements! We need to evacuate!" Tora argued._

_"Please. I know Konoha and they will arrive on time! They have been our allies long before you've journeyed here." _"But I don't know why they haven't come yet."_ He thought._

_The Kage and the Tiger had a staring match, but eventuallly Tora put his head down."_

_"I'm trusting your choice in this Uzukage. But if the message doesn't reach, Uzu is doomed."_

_And with that, Tora bounded away from the Uzukage and into a cave where a portal for the Tigers world lied. _

_"Uzukage-sama!" The barrier is failing!"_

_Just when Tora reached his home, The portal glowed red, before fading._

**_Scene_**_ **change**_

_"I have to hurry" Tora thought, jumping from tree to tree. "There is still time! Uzu can still be saved!"_

_"Tora! We're being followed!" ora looked back to see his mate, Akira, a white tiger following him._

_"Akira! I told you not to follow me!"_

_"Now is not the time to argue! This... This tree _thing _is following you!" She said urgently._

_"Well there goes my cover..." A voice said._

_The tiger looked at where the voice came from and, to their horror, saw a plant form out of the tree. It looked human, except its skin seemed to be made of some plant material. Its right side was white while the other was black. And two venus fly-traps seemed to grow out of his shoulders._

_"What are you?!" Akira shrieked. "How do you have Nature chakra?!"_

_"I can't tell you," The white part seemed to sing. **"But now you die!" **_

_A giant wood dragon erupted out of the wood. Tora mangaed to dodge, but Akira wasn't lucky. The wood managed to hit her rear leg and immediately a hand came out and grabbed her._

_"Akira!"_

_The tiger looked at him in an apologizing way. "I'm sorry Tora-kun. Complete the mission, and please take care of our cub!"_

_"Akira don't! I can get you out of there!" Tora roared. He tried to break the wood, but it seemed to have no affect._

_"Take care of our cub!" And as she said her last words, her fur glowed white. When it dimmed down, There was a stone tiger statue stuck between the wood, The stone then seemed to spread around the wood ,slowly at first but it quickly sped up._

_"What?!" The plant creature yelled, surprised. He tried to cut the connection o the wood but it was to late. The stone reached him and he immediately turned into a stone statue._

_Tora started running away from the scene. A single tear dripped down his eyes. _"I will Akira. I promise!"

_The stones started to glow again, before exploding, hurling Nature chakra everywhere._

**_Scene change, Near Konoha_**

_"Tiger?"_

_Tora stopped in his tracks as he looked up. He had almost reached Konoha, when a crippled old man came out of the woods. His right arm was bandaged, along with the right side of his head._

_"What are you doing here?" The man asked with an emotionless face._

_"Please! Uzu is under attack! I need to see the Hokage!"_

_"Uzu?" The man asked. "You seem to be too late. Uzushiogakure was destroyed a few days ago."_

_Tora's mind wasn't able to comprehend the information that was said. "Who are you? How do you know?"_

_The man seemed to find the Tiger emotional state amusing. "I am just one of the advisors of the Hokage."_

_Tora pawed the ground, trying to keep all of his emotions at bay, when he remembered something. "Kushina! Is she here? Is she alright?"_

_The adviser sighed before speaking in a hollow voice. "The poor girl suicided after hearing the news of her clan."_

_Flashback end_

"No... but Kushina is alive. Why would Konoha lie to you?" Naruto said, his mind trying to wrap around what he just saw.

"I do not know." Tora said in a grave voice. He picked up Akira, who had fallen asleep, by her neck and put her on a bed.

Naruto sat there in deep thought. "Is it possible for me to bring Kushina here. Maybe she would remember you."

Tora looked toward the sleeping kitten, "Yes, please bring her here."

**AN/: Pant* Done! Finally finished the chapter. Sorry for not updating (reason on profile). I never really understood how Uzu was destroyed when Konoha was right next to it. PM me if there are any mistakes or you have a question. AND PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

_"Why didn't I see this coming?" _Naruto thought seeing the empty bedroom he had told Kushina to stay. "What do I have to do to make her listen to me?" He said out loud .

**With Kushina**

Kushina suddenly felt a shiver go up her back, the feeling of trouble coming her way. She and Mikoto were walking around Konoha, with her doing all the talking with Mikoto being the quiet person she is, atleast in public.

When she was talking, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned, she saw that it was a familiar blonde.

She quickly turned around, hoping he didn't notice her, but her hair seemed to be a beacon as the moment he saw her, he walked over to her with an uneasy smile on her face.

_"Please go back. Please go back."_

"Um, hey Kushina." Minato said with a nervous smile. Kushina had always been cold to him so it was really awkward trying to make a conversation with her.

Mikoto was surprised at Mnato's sudden presence. She knew of his constant stalking and was surprised that he actually began to talk to her.

"Hi Minato." Kushina said with a neutral voice. He turned to Mikoto.

"Hi, my name is Minato." He said in a formal tone.

"My name is Mikoto." She said, back in her cold tone.

Seeing how quiet the girls were getting, Minato asked question. "Um, Kushina, have you seen Naruto around? He wasn't at the training ground."

Kushina could feel Mikoto's confused gaze on her. _"Training ground?" _Thought Mikoto. _"He trains with them?"_

"No Minato, I haven't seen him. He is probably walking around somewhere." Kushina said, not making any eye contact with him.

Minato knew she wouldn't talk to him but he had to atleast try to make friends with her._"But maybe some other time."_ He thought nervously.

"Okay, I'll see you during training." He said awkwardly, walking away.

Kushina wanted to strangle him. _"Of all the words he could have said!"_ She yelled mentally.

"Kushina?" Called Mikoto. "You train with Minato?"

"What?! No!" Kushina exclaimed. "Naruto trains us."

_"Kushina listens to someone?" _Mikoto thought shocked. "Just w_ho is this Naruto guy?"_

"Why didn't you tell me?"Mikoto asked.

"You never asked." Kushina replied simply.

They continued to talk but Mikoto kept on bringing the subject back to Naruto. Kushina tried to answer the questions, but she realized that she didn't know Naruto aswell as she thought she did. She began to feel guilty. _"Didn't I ask him anything, even if his memories are gone? Did I just use him to get stronger?" _She thought ashamed.

"Mikoto, I'll come back later, okay?"Kushina said, trying to hide her inner emotions.

Mikoto nodded, noticing her troubled voice. "I'll see you later."

While Kushina walked away, Mikoto thought. _"What are you hiding from me Kushina-chan?"_

Kushina didn'y walk far before a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Finally. Thought she'd never leave."

Kushina quickly spun with a kunai in her hands but lowered it when she saw who it was.

Leaning towards the wall was a familiar orangehead.

"Naruto?!" Kushina exclimed, surprised. It was then that she remembered where she was. "Um, I'm sorry for leaving-"

"I told you to stay in the room." He said sternly. He sighed, putting a hand on his face. "When will you ever listen to me?"

"But I feel better now!" She argued feeling her temper rise again.

"You may feel better right now, Kushina but later you are going to feel worse. Even with the Uzumaki vitality, you should rest. Come on, we're going back to the apartment"

Kushina looked like she was going to argue, but stopped at seeing the serious look in Naruto's eyes. She opted to just follow him silently.

_"Now that I got Kushina, How can I get her to the tigers?" _Naruto thought. "_ Kushina can't make a shadow clone with such little chakra, and I can't bring the tigers here with these ANBUs following me."_

As they walked in silence Kushina stared at Naruto's back _"He still hasn't talked to me. Is he still mad? What do I have to do to make im forgive me?"__  
><em>

Naruto was oblivious to what was going in Kushina's head. But he just continued to think on how to get Kushina out of the village. _"I am a ninja of this village... The Hokage can't restrict me from taking a C-rank mission out of the village... He'll send an ANBU after us but I'll deal with that later."__  
><em>

He looked back to see Kushina eyes glued to the ground, a frown on her face. "Kushina?" He called out.

She looked startled for some reason. "U-Um, yeah Naruto-kun?"

"How do you feel about doing a C-rank mission around the outside of the village?"

Kushina face lit up with excitement. "Really? Come on let's go!" She shouted, running. But after a few steps she fell to her knees clutching her stomach. "Um, you go ahead. I'll just walk."

Naruto shook his head. _"Tora's waiting"_ "I'll carry you." He spoke calmly.

Kushina's cheeks went red. "What? No! I can go by my self." She said with angry face.

"We don't really have much time Kushina. Genin can only go for missions outside the village till evening."

Kushina was going to argue but Naruto interrupted her. "Do you want to go or not?"

Kushina glared a. Him before replieing. "Fine but I'll be on your back."

Naruto grinned, "No problem."

Kushina out her hands on his shoulder and jumped on to his back. She shifted until she was comfortable. "Okay, let's- Wait!"

Naruto stumbled from her sudden command. "What?"

Kuahina sniffed the air before giving him a punch on his head. "You Baka! You're using my shampoo aren't you?!"

Naruro blushed."H-Hey it's not my fault. It smells really nice and it was the only one there."

Kushina lost her anger before becoming confused. "Does that mean my hair smells nice?"

"Um, yeah, of course." He replied his face getting redder.

"So you're saying that you smelt my hair?" She asked innocently.

"Wha-?! Can we just Go already!?" He said shaking his face.

"Sure" Kushina said, lowering her head onto his shoulder. _"Yay! I finally made him so embarrassed that he blushed."_ She cheered mentally.

After some time they both went to the Hokage's office. Kushina briefly wondered why he acted kind of different during the 'shampoo thing' but quickly forgot about it.

**At Hokage's office**

_"This kid is getting on my nerves!"_ Hiruzen thought angrily, staring emotionlessly to the two teenagers infront of him. They had requested a small C-rank mision to help the farmers outside Konoha. It was barely above D-rank as it was only C due to it being out of the village.

_"Ever since he came I've been having headache after headache." _He thought looking at the smiling boy.

_Flashback_

_"Hey! Sensei!" A voice called out of Hiruzens window._

_The Hokage smiled to himself, hearing his students voice._

_"It's been sometime since we last talked Jiraiya." He greeted._

_"But I use that time wisely, don't I?" Jiraiya said with pride, throwing a book at the Hokage's desk._

_Hiruzen greedily snatched up the book, before hiding it in his drawer. "So, what happened Jiraiya?"_

_"What? Can't I just visit my sensei?" He smiled. Noticing The Hokage's raised eyebrow, he sighed. "Fine, I've was looking for my student, Minato, when I sensed a chakra signature that wasn't in this village before. It turns out that both the unknown chakra, Minato and the Uzumaki heiress were _training _in the same place.__ That boy had a chakra of a jounin sensei. Who is he?"_

_Hiruzen sighed before telling him about the incident._

_"According to my ANBU, Kushina seems emotionally attached to the boy. If he was from another village and he was sent to capture the last Uzumaki, he would have made a move by now but he seems to have no ill intention."_

_"Jiraiya looked outside the window, his eye twikling as he looked at the village. "So that's why Minato seemed more determined to get stronger."_

_Hiruzen put his head into his hands, "Do you think we can trust him?"_

_Jiraiya lost his twinkle before looking at him with cold eyes. "There's a war on the horizon sensei, don't let your guard down for a second."_

_Flashback end_

Hiruzen spoke to gritted teeth, "You may leave now."

Naruto just continued to smile while thinking, "_Yup, he wants me dead."_

The moment the two teenagers left, The Hokage summoned 5 ANBU.

"I know that you are itching to get out of the village, so I am sending you to protect the Last Uzumaki. If the outsider shows one sign of treason, finish him."

**With Naruto**

Naruto and Kushina were walking towards the village gates, a scroll of the mission in Kushina's hands, when he picked up 5 strong chakra signatures.

_"Whoah, these must be the elite.."_ Naruto thought in awe of how strong their chakra is. _"The Hokage must be trying to assassinate me or something. I don't think even I can take even two of them at once."_

He was wondering what he should do to get Kushina to the tigers. "_I can't take her to the tigers, the ANBU would kill me easily. I guess i have to bring the tigers to heror something"_

"Hey Naruto-kun!" Kushina said suddenly. "Where is the farm?"

"Well, you're the one with the scroll." He said pointing at her hands.

"Oh yeah." She said sheepishly. "It's just that I've never done a C-rank before, or even go out of the village."

Suddenly Kushina leaned closer. "Why do you want a C-rank anyway?" She asked suspiciously.

"What?" Asked Naruto, caught of guard at the sudden question.

"I'm not stupid Naruto." She said. "We were always doing a D-rank or training and the suddenly you said we will go for a C-rank?"

"I'll tell you later." He said looking away from her.

"No, you will tell me now." She said angrily. "What are you hiding from me?"

_"Why is she so angry?" _He thought, staring at her blazing violet eyes. That was when he saw another emotion in her eyes. _"She's scared? Does she think I'm trying to kidnap her or something?_

That was when he remembered the kidnapping incident. _"It must have affected her more than I thought. But why is she asking me this now?_ He wondered.

"Kushina-chan relax." He said gently. "I met this... Animal clan and they wanted to meet you."

Kushina still glared at him. " How do they know me?"

"They were allied to the Uzumaki clan." He whispered as quietly as possible, trying not to alert the ANBU.

Kushina's eyes widened at that news, before narrowing again. "How do I know that you're not lying?"

Naruto thought for a moment before remembering her picture of her family. "Remember that picture of you're family?"

When she nodded, he continued. "Remember that pet cat you had? It wasn't a cat, it was the heir of the Tiger Clan. Don't you remember his name Tora?"

Kushina's eyes became foggy. "Tora... was a tiger?"

Naruto nodded but was confused when Kushina's eyes looked like she was in a trance. "He was friends with the Uzukage. They helped in fighting the invasion."

Suddenly a glow seemed to emite from Kushina's neck. A seal with a swirl in the middle. Kushina clutched her head before staring at Naruto with realization. "I remember now! The tiger's lived with us! Tora was our family friend. One of the tigers helped me reach Konoha. But when I reached , this old guy told me that he'll take me to the Hokage. But he took me to some ANBU training room and applied this seal."

Naruto looked at her in shock. "But why couldn't you remove the seal?"

"It was an advanced Uzumaki memory seal. We gave it to Konoha as a sign of friendship."

"Kushina," Naruto said urgently. Did that guy have a bandaged arm and eye?"

"I think so," She answered unsure.

"But now that you know, we can't let you leave." A voice said.

Startled, Naruto and Kushina turned around to find that they were surrounded by 5 ANBU. But these had the Kanji for 'Ne' on the forehead of their mask.

They teenagers stood back to back, whiile the ANBU began to close in.

"What did you do to Kushina's memories?" Naruto growled.

The ANBU remained silent. One from Naruto's right threw a kunai at Kushina. She managed to defend herself but another one nicked her cheek. While Naruto was distracted by Kushina's yelp, another ANBU managed to charged at Naruto. He flipped back to avoid the shot.

"Kushina" He whispered. "Scatter. They can't kill you cause you're the last Uzumaki, but be careful."

The moment the last word left his mouth, one ANBU threw a jutsu.

**"Earth Release: Mudslide" **He yelled as a giant wave of mud ran toward Naruto.

There wasn't any space to run so he took the jutsu head on.

**"Shadow clone jutsu!" **He yelled as a dome of clones formed around him. The wave hit the clones, causing some of the to disperse. When the wave stopped, Naruto stood there, relatively unharmed.

**"Fire Release: Flame Bullet" **A voice said from behind. When Naruto turned around, a bullet of fire was quickly heading to him.

**"Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet"** He shouted. The flames disappeared and hit the ANBU straight on. Before he could celebrate, he was kicked straight in the face.

He fell down hard. He put his hand on his nose and snapped it back in place with a winch. The three ANBU slowly began to charge at him again. They each called out a jutsu and a dragon made of fire, earth and lightning quickly began to rushed towards him.

**"Water Release: Water Formation Wall" **He yelled, as a barrier of water formed infront of him.

They four jutsus clashed a moment, the wall held, but then it died down.

The powered down jutsus were, luckily, spun off course and crashed to Naruto's right. Immediately, His arm caught a kick thrown near his stomach. The teenager and the ANBU began a taijutsu fight.

Before Naruto could be overpowered, two shadow clones popped into existance. One quickly caught the ANBU while the other charged chakra into the Original's hands.

**"Rasengan!"** Naruto bellowed, driving his chakra ball right into the ANBU's making the ninja spin in the air before he crashed into the ground with a groan.

Naruto turned around to see how Kushina was. She was weaving through her oppenents attacks just like he had taught her. But her face showed how tired she really was.

**"Shadow clone jutsu." **He whispered, as 4 clones popped into existance. 2 of them went to help Kushina fight the 2 ANBU while the others helped him.

**"Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique" **The 2nd ANBU shouted as he charged through the clone. Naruto expected the clone to block it but instead, the ANBU cut straight through it and made a direct hit to Naruto's stomach.

Blood exploded out of Naruto's mouth. _"I'm an idiot," _He scolded himself._ "I got overconfident."_

Before the the ANBU could continue his assault, Naruto's clone drove a wind blade right through his stomach.

Naruto saw that his attacker had fell to the ground, as the clone behind him popped out of existance due to the chakra usage. Naruto turned around to see Kushina still dodging the attacks. He tried to walk towards her but almost immediately he fell down, puking blood out of his mouth.

"Naruto!" Kushina screamed, seeing the state of her friend. Tears began falling out of her eyes seeing the amount of blood coming out of his mouth. Her fists clenched when the 2 clones on her sides disappeared, proving that Naruto was unconscious.

Rage filled her mind, seeing how close to death Naruto was from the blood loss. A voice seemed to speak in her mind as her hands moved by themselves. They slammed into the ground at the same time as 3 blood red spiked chains blasted out of the ground. They ran through the startled ANBU repeatedly, tearing the flesh apart.

When her rage finally subsided, the chains disappeared. Her mind didn't register what she just did, nor the fact that it was her first kill. All she wanted to do was check on Naruto.

When she approached his body, he gave out a groan.

"Kushina?" He rasped, his throat still having some blood inside.

"I'm here." She said, trying to keep him awake.

"Help me get up" He said, his hand clutching her arm.

"But you're hurt." She said desperately.

"I'm fine." He said, slowly sitting up. Kushina tried to stop him, but he got onto his feet.

"If you can go around Konoha while having chakra exhaustion, I can at least have a walk around the forest." He grinned.

Kushina looked at him worriedly, but agreed nonetheless. Naruto took out the scroll and saw in which direction they should go.

"Come on." He said walking, slowly at first, but quickly sped up.

Kushina was slightly stunned at how easily he shook off his injuries and quickly followed.

They walked in silence until Naruto spoke.

"So, how did you do that?" He asked. "That red, spiked chakra chain."

"I...I don't know." She said truthfully. "When I saw you like that, something just snapped and this voice just kept egging me to use the chains."

"Voice?" He asked shocked. "Do you know who's it was?"

Kushina knew exactly who's it was. She had only heard it one other time, and she could never forget that experiance. She wondered if she should tell him the truth. _"He did stop most of those weird ANBU from attacking me," _She thought. _"He did so much for me. I _have _to tell him."_

"It was the Kyuubi." She said sadly.

"Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I'm the Kyuubi Jinchuriki." Kushina said, looking him in the eye.

**AN:/ Done! Please tell me how the fight scene was. Was it good or bad? And I made Naruto get hurt so it won't seem like it's a Godly!Naruto or an Overpowered!Naruto. He's just a teenager and it's really easy to make mistakes and the fact that these are ROOT ANBU. One of the reviews said that I would end up abandoning the story. I realized that there is that chance of me abandoning it. It is my first story after all. But i will try what ever I can not to. I had sooo many Writers block in writing this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW. It makes me happy :3**


	10. Chapter 10

"You're a what?" Naruto said confused.

"A jinchuriki." Kushina replied nervously.

But Naruto still kept his confused expression. _"Is he trying to hide his shock?" _She thought worriedly.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't remember reading anything like that. What does it mean?"

Kushina took a deep breath. "It means Power of the Human sacrifice." When Naruto's eyes widened, she continued. "There are these monsters called Bijuu. A Bijuu is a giant entity made of pure chakra. They have an evil mind and they are really violent. There are a total of nine Bijuu. And the Kyuubi, the strongest one, is sealed inside me."

"But... why?" Naruo asked speechless.

"According to Mito-baa-sama, my chakra chains can hold down Bijjuu. And cause she was dying, Konoha needed me to become their jinchuriki."

"But if they are really that violent, how do people know if it even has a mind?"

"Well... they're chakra feels really malicious. I think that's why they say it."

Unconciously, Naruto put his hand on his stomach, "But you said it spoke to you. What did it say?"

"I...I think it was trying to tempt me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well when I saw you vomiting blood, I must've lost my concentration on boosting the seal with my chains and keeping it immobilized.." She said, blushing slightly.

Remembering that moment, Naruto realized something. "Kushina... You killed those ninjas."

Kushina felt her heart drop. "I know."

"Was it your first kill?"

"Yeah," She whispered, staring at the floor. "But Mito-baa-sama already warned me about it. She said that if i became a ninja I would probably have to kill, but as a jinchuriki, I will kill, especially if I lose control."

Naruto sighed, knowing that she was hiding her inner turmoil. "Come on. Tora is waiting."

Kushina felt hurt when Naruto didn't say anything or even comfort her about her 'status'. _"I shouldn't have told him. I shouldn't even think about telling anyone."_

As they walked towards a denser part of the forest, Naruto spoke up. "Kushina-chan?"

"Yeah?" She said, startled but feeling a bit happier when he continued to call her -chan.

"What are you going to do?" He asked gently. "About Konoha?"

"Oh" That brief moment of happiness ebbed away. "I don't know. Ever since I came to Konoha, everything seemed to be going downhill. Uzu's destruction, this memory seal, the academy, that kidnapping. I just wish I could get away from Konoha, you know?"

"I think I know what you mean." Naruto said. "But with this war coming, it's not like you can go anywhere."

Kushina remained silent, until she heard Naruto speak.

"But..."

She looked at him. "But what?"

"You could always hide with the Tigers."

"I could?" She asked as realization dawned on her face.

"Yeah, I'm sure Tora would allow you. You are his family after all.""

"Really? I remember Tora and his mate Akira but what about that cub?"

Naruto face turned somber. "That's their cub. Tora named her after Akira when she died."

Kushina became quiet as she took in the information. As they walked some more step in silence, Kushina spoke again.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Do you remember when I told you my dream?"

_Flashback_

_"I want to be the first female Hokage, da'ttebane!" She exclaimed, fist pumping as Naruto chuckled at her enthusiasm._

_Flashback End_

"Yeah, you wanted to be the first female Hokage." He answered.

"That isn't really my life goal." She whispered with her face down.

"Then what is?" He asked curiosly.

"Well... before the 'Invation' my dream was to become the first female Uzukage." She said.

"And so when you came to Konoha you just made it up after that." He said, completing her sentence. "So what is it now?"

She looked him in the eye. "I want to rebuild Uzushiogakure."

Naruto grinned at her. Unlike her other goal, she seemed more serious about this one and she could see the fire in her eyes. He put his hand on her shoulder, "And I'll help you achieve it."

Kushina grinned back, a small blush forming on her face but it disappeared. "But Naruto, what about your memories?

Naruto sighed at Kushina questions. "A Yamanaka told me that there is a memory seal in my mind.

Kushina's eyes widened before she smiled in excitement. "Why didn't you tell me?! If it's a seal then I can crack it in no time!"

Naruto felt guilty for not telling her. "I know I should've told, but the seal was literally in my mind. If there was a tiny mistake, I would pretty much turn into a vegetable. And the fact that you can't memorize the seal, it's too complicated."

Kushina lost her excitement at the news. _"I guess it better this way."_ She thought sadly. _"Maybe they were sealed for a reason."  
><em>

"We're here." Naruto said, stuffing the scroll in his pocket.  
>Kushina stared at the cave in front of them. The dense trees had disappeared, and had been replaced by grass and small plants. The giant cave had no signs of any inhabitants.<p>

"Are you sure?" She asked confused. "It doesn't look like there is anyone here."

Naruto smiled at her question. "Trust me."  
>He then proceeded to throw a stone inside the cave. It's sound could be heard echoing around the tunnel. When it finally stopped, she began to hear footsteps. They grew louder and louder until a creature emerged from the cave.<p>

A giant cat walked out of the cave, it's golden fur glittering in the sunlight. It turned its eyes to them, and she saw the happiness in them when he saw her.

"Kushina." Tora spoke joyfully. "Thank Kami you're alright."

Kushina smiled at the tiger as she felt a few tears threaten to fall from her eyes when she remembered him from Uzu. Just when she took a step, she felt something collide with her foot.

"Yay, it's red girl!"

She looked down to see a miniature Tora, running around her feet. She picked up the little kitten and began to cradle it.

"Hello Akira-chan." She cooed. "I'm guessing you remember me?"

"Of course." Akira purred. "You have red hair like an Uzu-ma-ki." She said trying to pronounce the word properly.

Kushina smiled at the cat. "I do, don't I?"

Tora walked to the redhead, smiling sadly at the little kitten."I'm afraid I can't take you to Mt Kiba Kagayaku yet. The seals need to cool down.

"Oh." Kushina was disappointed when she couldn't see the tigers home. "How many tigers are still there?"

"Only 75." Tora said gravely. "Just a quarter of what we once were."

Kushina nodded, absent-mindedly stroking Akira.

"Tora," Naruto said, speaking for the first time. "There's something you should know."

He then proceeded to explain the memory seal on Kushina and the ANBU attack.

"It was the same guy who lied to you about Kushina-chan."

You could feel the sudden mood difference in the air. Tora's claws seemed to grow and his eyes flashed as his anger increased. "That man will PAY for what he has done."

"Tora, calm down." Kushina said gently. "We will get back at him, but first, what do we do? I don't want to go back to Konoha..."

Tora lost his anger and instead nuzzeled his head towards Kushina's. "I'm sorry Kushina but you must. The seal will be working in a week. You can come with us after that."

Naruto chose that time to speak. "Also Kushina-chan, I don't think I can be with you in Konoha for the full week. With those ANBU dead, the Hokage will probably try to assassinate me."

Kushina sighed at the news. "So Tora." She strted, watching Akira play with her fingers. "What happened during the invasion?"

Tora then proceeded to tell them about his escape, Akira's death and how Konoha had lied to him.

Seeing how sad everyone was, little Akira spoke up. "Come on guys! This is supposed to be a happy reunion!" She yipped, jumping up and down.

Everyone smiled at the hyperactive cub. "She's right." Kushina said. "Lets just enjoy the time we have."

Naruto sat down on the forest floor as Tora began to speak. "Well we do have some good news."

"Huh?"

Tora gave her a fanged smile. "We did salvage a few kenjutsu scrolls, along with a few books."

"Really?!" Shrieked Kushina happily as she hugged Tora on his neck. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Tora and Naruto couldn't help but smile at Kushina's happiness. Tora looked towards her and for the briefest moment, his eyes glowed.

"Kushina?" He asked. "Have you done anything to you fists? The chakra pathways seem bigger there.

"Oh that." Kushina said sheepishly. "I practiced using my chakra chains a lot and I kept on channeling chakra in my hands."

"Hmmm, You could actually use this to your advantage." He commented, as Kushina looked confused. "This can be used to enhance your strength. If used properly of course."

Kushina grinned before pointng at Naruto. "You told me it was dangerous!" She accused him.

Naruto shrugged. "I was worried that you would misuse it. And I wanted to check if you would listen to me." He grinned.

Kushina glared at him, trying to make him feel guilty or atleast admit that he was wrong. Instead, he ignored her glare and laid down on the forest floor and closed his eyes.

"You know, you've been acting differently for the last few days." Kushina said, crossing her arms.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He said, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Well, good I guess. You've been more open to people now." Seeing how lazy Naruto seemed, she intead started talking to Tora.

Naruto felt her ignore his presence as she started talking to Tora. _"Something about this forest... Just seems to make me relaxed."_ He thought, as he felt himself fall asleep.

.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprise, no shocked at the scene infront of him. The forest trees had disappeared, and the cold night sky loomed above him. The grass beneath him had disappeared, and was replaced by solid rock.

"Kushina?" He called out, confused. "Tora? If this is supposed to be some genjutsu prank..."

But he knew that it wasn't a genjutsu. All of his senses were telling him that what he was watching was real. Then he noticed something in the distance. A giant white tree seemed to erect out of the ground. But this tree seemed to radiate power. An uncontrollable power. As he stared at the night sky, he saw something that shocked him to the core.

The position where the moon should be, was instead a blood red eye, staring right at him.

.

"Naruto!"

A slap hit his right cheek as he jerked himself awake. He looked around him, before realizing that he was back in the forest. It was then he began to feel the stinging on his cheek.

"Ow! Why'd you slap me?" Naruto growled, clutching his cheek.

Kushina looked hurt at his words. "You were twitching and jerking in your sleep." She said. "I thought you were having a fits or something."

Naruto lost his anger. "Sorry." He apologized.

"It's okay." She said tuning away.

Tora watched the two interact, but Naruto could have swore that he was looking at him with his glowing eyes. It was then he noticed that the sky was beginning to darken.

"Kushina-chan." He said, as she turned around. "We should get moving."

Kushina nodded before turning to Tora. "I'll see you in a week." She said, hugging him around his neck again.

Akira then climbed her way upto Kushina's neck. "Bye Kushina-nee-chan!" She said, nuzzling her cheek.

Kushina giggled at the ticklish feeling she got from Akira's fur. "I'll miss you Akira-chan. She whispered.

"I'll miss you too!" Akira meowed innocently, rubbing her head against Kushina.

"Come on Kushina." Naruto said nodding to Tora, who nodded in return.

"When you come back." Tora whispered. "I'll show you why our mountain is called the Glowing Fang."

Kushina smiled. "I'd like that. Bye!"

Kushina jogged towards Naruto who was already walking away. "So," He said. "What should we do? With this mission and all."

"Throw the scroll away." He said simply.

"And they'll believe that we lost it?" Kushina asked incredulously.

"It's not like they are going to do anything." He said, shrugging. "Besides, we will be gone in a week."

"But how are we going to get out?" She questioned.

"Well, I've been thinking about that. I know that they can follow our chakra signatures so I came up with a plan." He answered.

"What is it?" She asked curiosly.

"Shadow clones." He said simply. "How many can you make now?"

.

**Scene change**

**.**

"They are back." The ANBU said to the Hokage. "But the ANBU have not returned."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. _"They've returned already?" _"And how is Kushina's physical condition?"

"There don't seem to be any injuries." He replied. "But the boy is walking with a slight limp."

_"Could he have actually taken out _5 ANBU_? _The Hokage thought, surprised. _"He would be dangerous to keep in Konoha. He doesn't cooperate. I'm sorry Kushina but your friend must be disposed of."_

"Observe how he is for now." The Hokage replied. "And when the Uzumaki is away... assassinate him.

The ANBU was surprised, _"Assassination? On a kid?"_ 'Yes Hokage-sama."

**With Naruto**

"The ANBU left." He whispered to Kushina who visibly relaxed.

"So, we just go back to the apartment?" She whispered back.

"Yeah." He replied. "Just pack important stuff, but keep your room the way it is. That way they won't be suspicious. But be careful anyway."

Kushina nodded, before asking the question she couldn't get out of her mind."But what about Mikoto-chan? And Minato?" She added after an afterthought.

Naruto looked troubled. "I don't know about that. I guess tomorrow you can go see Mikoto, but I can't let you see Minato. His sensei is Jiraiya after all.

_"That won't be a problem." _She sighed internally. She looked up to see their apartment. "I'm going to go sleep. I don't feel like eating right now."

"Okay." Naruto said. "I'll leave something incase you get hungry.

They both entered the apartment. The moment Kudhina left to change her clothes and sleep, Naruto focused his concentration to the chakra signature that was following them.

_"It doesn't seem as strong as the ones that attacked us." _He thought. _"I'm pretty sure I could take him/her, if it was a one on one of course."_

He moved towards the kitchen, to get something to eat, but he kept his concentration to the ANBU. Slowly, but surely, the ANBU was coming inside the house.

_"What?! They're gonna try to kill me already? I can't wake up Kushina. But how do I leave her a message?"_

He looked around, trying to find anything to help him, when he got an idea. A shadow clone appeared next to him. It had enough chakra to last a day so he prayed that the ANBU wouldn't sense it. The clone then transformed into a wooden chair.

He quickly took an apple out of the cupboard, before getting out of the apartment. He walked into the streets, munching on the aple as he walked. The ANBU was following him. He couldn't see him but he could feel the intent from the ANBU. He wanted to kill him.

"You can come out know." Naruto said, throwing the apple stem away.

The ANBU was surprised by the kids senses, but emerged out of the dark, holding out a kunai.

"So you're here to assassinate me?" Naruto asked sarcastically. "And I thought Konoha was the kindest village."

The ANBU threw his kunai, aiming at Naruto's head. He sidestepped it easily while resisted the urge to attack. _"No way in hell am I going to make a fight inside the village like an idiot."_

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** He yelled, making thirty copies of himself. The ANBU was surprised at seeing a kid perform a Konoha kinjutsu, and was even more surprised when they all ran in different direction.

_"Shit!" _The ANBU thought. "Inu to base." He said, speaking through his ear piece. "I require backup. The assassination target in escaping by using shadow clones."

**With Naruto**

"He called for back-up." Naruto thought, feeling his dead clone's memories come to his mind. Slowly but surely, his clones were slowly being killed. _"But that's okay. I'm almost out."_

He saw the village wall looming ahead. But before he could celebrate his escape, something caught his eyes.

He ducked and rolled to a stop as a kunai flew at him.

"Jiraiya, of the Three Legendary Sannin." Naruto called out as a tall man with a mane of white hair came out of his hiding spot.

"So, you're the Naruto I've been hearing from the Hokage." Jiraiya said, not the least intimated by Naruto.

Naruto stood a defensive stance. "I guess I should feel honoured that the Hokage sent his own student to kill me." _"If he is as strong as he's descibed, I'm so fucked."_

Jiraiya still didn't attack. "Kill? Oh no, I'm here on my own free will."

Naruto grew curious, but still kept his stance. "Then why are you here?"

Jiraiya sighed. "I don't know what sensei was thinking. It's pretty obvious that Kushina see's you as her closest friend. This village never didn't provide her the comfort of a home as we wanted. I'm sure you know what I mean. And killing you would probably make her want to leave the village or get killed in the process.

Naruto stared at him. "I'm not sure about her leaving the village. But still, what are you going to do?

"You answer my questions." Jiraiya replied simply. "And if I decide you aren't a threat, I'll let you go."

_"If I couldn't fight against 3 root ANBUs, fighting a Sannin is a death wish." _He thought before nodding.

"What village are you allied with?" Jiraiya asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

"I've already told your Hokage." Naruto said truthfully, looking at the Sannin in the eye. "I can't remember anything. And I'm not a spy."

'Fine." Jiraiya said. "Then what are your intentions towards the village?"

"Intentions?" Naruto asked, confused. "Well I don't really know. At first I thought it was a really peaceful and kind village. but then I found some disturbing information."

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Other than making Kushina a jinchuriki?" Naruto said glaring. "How about the memory seal you placed on her? Or the lie you told the tigers?

"Wait. Wait." Jiraiya said, genuinely confused. "Memory seal? We would never put a seal on Kushina. And we were told that the Tigers were eradicated."

"And who told you that?" Naruto said coldly.

A look of realization came on to his face. "Danzo."

"An old guy with a bandaged face and arm?" Naruto asked. Seeing Jiraiya nod, he continued, "That was the same guy who Kushina said who applied the seal on her."

"And how do I know that you're not lying?" Jiraiya asked.

From inside his pouch he pulled out a scroll. he did a quick summoning and pulled out the item that was stored in it.

"The people who attacked us on the mission all wore this." He said, showing the slightly blood stained mask.

A look of anger crossed Jiraiya's face when he saw the Kanji for 'Ne' on the forehead of the mask. "I'll look into this. Now, why did you help Minato in his training?"

Naruto was puzzled by the question. "Well, he asked for help. So I just thought I'll do it."

"Most people think that he's too girly.' Jiraiya explained. "So when he told me that you helped him, I got interested in who you were."

Naruto accepted his answer before asking, "So can I go?"

Jiraiya sighed. "As long as you don't make a war with Konoha, you can leave. We have enough on our hands at the moment."

Naruto was about to leave when he remember something. "Um, could you give a message to Minato for me?"

"Sure." Jiraiya answered.

"Tell him that I look forward to our next spar." Naruto smiled.

Jiraiya then gave his first smile towards Naruto. "Alright, and you better hurry cause the ANBU are coming towards this area."

**AN/: To be honest I feel like I could have done this chapter better. But I didn't update for a while and so here it is. I have a message on my profile so please see it. Its written in bold. And please leave a review!**


	11. Chapter 11: Part 1

"What?!" Kushina yelled, outrage. "He left?!"

Naruto's clone winced at the volume of her voice. "Yeah." He replied. "The moment you left, one of the ANBU slipped inside the house."

"But why didn't you wake me up?" She questioned in a lower tone. "I could have help."

"Kushina-chan." The clone said. "I'm pretty sure that would have blown your cover."

"Oh." Kushina face-palmed herself mentally for her stupid question. "But how should I escape? I mean I've only made around 10 clones before. How can I make twenty?"

"You have large chakra reserves Kushina-chan." The clone replied smiling. "I'm sure you can do it."

"So how long will you last?" Kushina asked, feeling a bit sad that Naruto left so quickly.

"About a few more hours." He replied. "You should go pack. Incase you need to go early. Or you could go visit your friends."

_"Friend." _Kushina corrected mentally."Then what will you do? Its not like you can just go walking around." A thought suddenly struck her mind. "Wait a minute! Can't they sense your chakra signature?"

Naruto' clone gave her a sad smile. "It's good to know that you paid attention when I made you read those books. And yeah, I have to go." And just like that, the clone dispersed in a cloud of smoke.

Kushina coughed when she accidentally inhaled some of the smoke. _"That... That bastard!" _She screamed mentally. _"He could have atleast given me a heads up."_

She sat down in her apartment, wondering what she should do "_I can't go to Mikoto yet. I just can't. Maybe I'll just go to the training ground. And try that strength enhancing thing Tora said."_

And with that thought, she changed her clothing, before leaving to her training grounds.

**_At training ground._**

_"Is...Is someone following me?" _Kushina thought, looking back. _"Is this what Naruto said about sensing with your chakra?"_

Eversince she left her apartment, Kushina couldn't help but feel like she was being followed. At first she thught she was just imagining it, but when she tried concentrating really hard, she could almost feel exactly where the person was.

As she extended her senses, she suddenly felt a familiar chakra. It didn't seem as strong as the other but it instead of hiding, it was approaching her. She opened her eyes to see a familiar blonde.

"Minato?" She called out, so surprised she forgot to sound cold to him. "What are you doing here?"

Minato stared at his feet, feeling nervous. "Well, some of the jounins told me to tell you something."

"Huh? What did they say?" Kushina asked, confused.

"Naruto left the village." He spoke quickly. "And the Hokage marked him as a missing nin."

At first, Kushina stared at him, puzzled. But in a few seconds her eyes went wide as she shouted.

"What?! He's gone?" She shouted. "But why?"

"I don't know." Minato replied, sadly. "The jounin told me to tell you. They didn't tell me when or how."

Kushina tried her best to act sad and hurt, but she knew she wouldnt be able to do it. "Minato, could you give me some time alone." She lied, hoping he would go.

'Okay." He said immediately. He then proceeded to walk away._  
><em>

Kushina sighed, relieved. _'Why does he keep following me?" _She thought irritatedly. She almost dropped her sad face when she remembered the ninja watching her. "They must be observing me, to see if I know where Naruto is." She though.

She lied back on the grass field, watching the clouds pass by. She eyed the green trees around her. The tall trunks and giant leaves reminded her of the place where those ANBUs attacked her and Naruto and...

Where she killed them.

She clenched her fists as the emotions she burried inside her in the forest begin to rise. They way the chain, _her_ blood red chain tore through their bodies. The blood splattered against the ground. In a span of a few sceonds, her attackers were dead.

And it was she who killed them

Tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn't just kill them. She slaughtered the. She drilled the chains into their bodies, before making letting them die. A sob escaped her lips as the full impact of what she did hit her.

She had ended the life of those people. People who might've had a family. She killed them just because her friend was _injured._ She covered her face as she tried to stop the flow of her tears, but failed as the scene continued to replay in her mind. She wanted comfort. She wanted her family.

The ANBU saw the turmoil she was in, and shunshin-ed away to the Hokage.

**At the Hokage's office.**

"So?" The Hokage began. 'Do you think she knows where he is?"

"No, Hokage-sama." The ANBU answered. "But I think the boy was a lot closer to her than we expected. She cried her heart out on the field."

"We had no choice." Hiruzen sighed sadly. "We are doing this for her own safety. One day, she'll understand. And how is the search going? Have the ANBU managed to track him down?"

"We have had no messages since the early morning." The ANBU said. "And the last one we did recieve said that his scent was getting weaker."

Hiruzen nodded when he heard the ANBUs words. "But as long as he stays away, Kushina will be safe. I could never forgive myself if something happened to her."

The ANBU the bowed to the Hokage before exiting the office.

Hiruzen lit his pipe before puffing. _ "Do you think I did the right thing... sensei?"_

**With Naruto**

Naruto gasped as he jumped out of the river. The cold water clung to his clothes as he took deep breaths. He had been running from the vllage the whole night. It was thanks to Jiraiya that he had gotten a headstart from the ANBUs.

But that didn't mean he escaped.

There was a group of ANBU tracking him down. He would have lead them straight to Tora if he hadn't sensed them. He then proceeded to go in the exact opposite direction. Only after a few hours did he understand that they might have been following his scent.

He felt the scroll in his pocket, amazingly dry and still working. He was pretty sure that he would catch a cold from swimming through the ice cold river, but he put that in the back of his mind.

He straightened up and relaxed his body. His senses told im the the ANBU weren't near him but weren't far either. He decided that he should take a quick rest before moving again.

He lowered himself on to the rocky ground, his back resting against the tree bark. he closed his eyes and slowed down his breathing. the quiet, gentle forest breeze relxed him. he began to feel drowsy as the effect of running the whole night with only an apple as dinner.

He absent-mindedly began to fiddle with the scroll he took out of his pocket. If it wasn't for this, he would have been lost for weeks. Without the scroll, he would never be able to find Tora.

His eyes widened, before looking at the scroll.

The scroll was the only way to find Tora.

_"Shit! I'm an idiot!"_

**_With Kushina_**

"Kushina-chan. Wake up." A voice called out.

Kushina stirred from her sleep. A hand was shaking her shoulder, awakening her from her slumber. The moment her eyes opened, she remembered what had happen before she fell asleep. She quickly wiped her face with her sleeve to remove the dry tear stains.

She looked up to find a familiar Uchiha.

"Mikoto? What are you doing here?" She asked surprised.

Mikoto stared at her. "What am _I_ doing here? Kushina what are you doing here? Its almost night time."

Only then did Kushina notice the lack of sunlight in the sky. Mikoto stared at her, expecting an answer.

"Well, I... was just taking a nap." Kushina answered uneasily.

Mikoto didn't believe her, especially with her bloodshot eyes. "Kushina, you can tell me. I won't judge you."

Kushina felt extremely bad at those words. Here was her friend concerned about her well being. Her friend who she was going to leave behind. "I'm fine Mikoto-chan, stop worrying." She said, giving a slightly strained grinned.

Mikoto didn't look convinced but dropped the subject. "Fine. But you're going to have dinner at my house."

Kushina was surprised at the sudden request. "No thanks Mikoto-chan."

"Please Kushina-chan." Mikoto insisted.

Kushina suddenly felt guilty as she saw Mikoto's pleading expression. _"I spent so much time with Naruto, that I forgot about Mikoto."_

"Alright" Kushina answered finally. "But let me just take a shower."

Mikoto nodded, before giving a relieved smile. "Thanks."

The two girls began to walk to Kushina's apartment, talking about random topics. It was there that Kushina realized how much she missed having Mikoto in her life. And she was once again reminded of the fact that she had to break that bond.

Noticing Kushina's sudden silence, Mikoto couldn't hold back her curiousity, "Kushina-chan, I know something is bothering you. Please just tell me, you know I'll always be on your side."

Those words broke down Kushina's resistance and made her spill everything. The kidnapping, the meeting with Naruto, the memory seal by Konoha along with the ANBU attack.

Mikoto's eyes widened at the news. Sure she knew that Kushina never liked Konoha much but after hearing her incident with the ANBU, she was shocked. "K-Kushina, I don't know what to say..."

"And thats not even the worst part." Kushina whispered. "I killed those ANBUs Mikoto, I _killed _them._"_

Mikoto didn't know what to do. Her friend had gotten her first kill before her, so she couldn't relate. Instead, she opted to give her a hug. "It was either them or you and Naruto. You did the right thing because you protected your friend."

Kushina returned the hug with full force. "Really?

Mikoto smiled at her child like question." Yes Kushina, you aren't a monster."

Kushina felt a few tears go down her cheeks. "Thank you Mikoto-chan, I really needed that."

Mikoto rubbed her back as a frown crossed her face. "So you're gonna leave Konoha, huh?"

Kushina released the hug and answered. "Yeah. I realized that I don't really belong here. My only friend here was you and you can't always talk to me because you clan isn't really that... welcoming to people who aren't Uchiha."

They both became silent, not sure what to say. they reached Kushina's apartment and entered inside.

Mikoto was surprised at how clean, well, clean_er_ Kushina's apartment was. Instead of seeing random ramen packets or clothes lying around, her house actually looked well kept.

"I kinda cleaned the place..." Kushina trailed on waving her hands around.

"You packed?"

Kushina sighed. "I can't anything from you, can I? Yeah I packed and I have to leave in a few days."

"Let's just enjoy the night." Mikoto said, trying to sound upbeat. "Sleepover?"

Kushina's mood did a flip. "Okay!"

**With Naruto**

"Any intrusion in the village?" The ANBU asked the gate guard.

"Nope." The chuunin said positively. "There hasn't been any people entering except a few civilians and merchants."

"And you checked them?" The ANBU asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." The chuunin answered. He knew what happened to the old gate guard after the Kumo kidnapping.

The ANBU nodded, before entering the village. As long as the kid is away, the Uzumaki heriess wass safe.

Both the ninjas were completely unaware of the little golden tiger cub listening in on their conversation. The cubs eyes lit up with interest when it saw a butterfly pass it but quickly crushed the feeling. She had to focus on this mission.

When she realized that they had ended the conversasion, she started sprinting as fast as her little legs could carry her. It took her all her will power not to chase the butterflies or stare at the village. After all, she was just a curious little cub.

She continued running until she saw a familiar lake. It's dark blue colour shining in the night sky.

"Naruto-niisan! Tou-san! I did what you told me too!" She shouted with her high pitch voice. Almost immediately she found herself being picked up.

"Good job Akira-chan." Naruto praised her. "So what did they say?"

Akira crawled up to his hair and sat on his head, her fur camouflaging against Naruto's hair. "Well, they said that their village didn't have any in-intru-ders and that some guard was checking the people who passed."

_"Doesn't really help me." _Naruto thought uneasily. "_But I guess that the village must have someone who is a sensor or some detector."_

"So Tora." He asked the large Tiger. "What should we do?"

Tora stretched his paws. "Well, those Kumo ninjas must have gone in somehow. We just have to find it."

Naruto nodded before he gained a guilty expression. "I'm sorry again Tora. It just slipped my mind that we only had one scroll and two people.

"Its alright Naruto." Tora sighed with a slight annoyance. "Its actually my fault that I did not see it coming."

"Yeah, but if I remembered-"

"Naruto." Tora interrupted, fed up with Naruto's apologies. "Everyone makes mistakes. You just need to learn from them. Now lets try to find a way in."

Naruto nodded, but still looked a bit guilty. "I'll send some disguised shadow clones to scout the area for any hidden routes inside the village."

Tora looked a bit troubled. "Naruto, while it is a good jutsu, don't get so attached to it. You never know when it might lead to you downfall. For Uzu, it was their trust. They put too much faith in Konoha and now their gone."

"I've been thinking about that." Naruto replied. "I think I understand why the jutsu was marked as a kinjutsu. There are so many things you can do with it. It can make anyone go power mad with the possibilities."

"Well, you understood my point." Tora said as he watched Naruto create some clones which transformed into various animals. Almost immediately the clones scattered into the woods.

Naruto and Tora sat down, while Akira curled herself on top of Naruto's head, looking as if it was the most comfortable place in the world. "So, what are Kushina and I going to do once we escape to your mountain?

"Well, first I'll introduce you to some Tigers and then we'll get started on your training." Tora replied as his tail swung from side to side.

At hearing the word training, a question popped into Naruto's head. "Does it involve any Nature chakra?" He asked curiously.

"Well at one point, yes." Tora spoke. "However I do not think Kushina will be able to learn the ways of a sage. She has large chakra but she is also a bit hyperactive. And to gather Nature chakra requires no movement at all, I doubt she would be able to do it."

Naruto felt a bit sad for Kushina. "Are you sure? Maybe she can. I mean she does like to prove people wrong." He said with a smile.

Tora returned the smile. "Maybe she can. But I don't think she can do it for a few years, at least until she becomes an adult."

" What are the requirements for sage mode?" Naruto asked puzzled. "Other than absolute stillness, large chakra reserves and able to balance the chakra."

"Well, you need ... Peace of mind." Tora answered. "With a calm mind, it is easier to gather nature chakra. That is why sitting in a forest makes you relaxed. It's the influence of nature chakra."

"Would... Would Nature chakra affect your mind?" Nauto asked hesitantly.

"I'm not sure about that. Why?" Tora asked. "Do you believe it can help to break the seal in your mind?"

"I hope so." Naruto said uneasily. "Tora, do you know anything about ... the Sharingan?"

Tora raised his eyebrows. "What brought this up?" He asked.

"Nothing." Naruto lied. "Just curious."

"Well, the Sharingan is a doujutsu of the Uchiha clan. It allows the wielder to see the flow of chakra in a person. This is what allows them to detct genjutsus with ease. It also increases the sharpness of their eyes to such a high level, one could say they could see the action before it happens. The eyes can pickup subtle detail, enabling them to give an almost perfect copy of someones action.

"But the most well-known ability of the Sharingan is it's power to copy ninjutsus, genjutsus and taijutsus. However, the power of the jutsus would be weak if they are witnessing it for the first time. Only with practice will the strength of the jutsus increase. The eye can have a maximum of three tomoes, with the third being the strongest.""

"Is there anything else?" Naruto asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

Tora sighed hesitantly before answerng. "Well, there are some rumours that the sharingan users have access to special kinjutsus, but I am not sure if it's true. Also..."

Naruto leaned forward as Tora's voice became more silent.

"There is another stage after the third tomoe. Only one man had managed to achieve this stage and his name was Madara Uchiha, one of the founding members of Konohagakure along with Hashirama Senju."

"What was it called?" Naruto asked, remembering the book about the history of Konoha.

"The Mangekyo Sharingan. I do not know how he achieved it. After all, I only heard about it from my father. He said that the left eye could put you in a genjutsu so strong you would fall in a coma, if not die. And his right eye could send out pit black fires which are said to burn through anything and be ablaze for days."

Naruto felt Akira shiver from fear as she listen to her father. He quickly moved her to his lap and patted her soothingly on her neck.

"The only man who could stand up to him was Hashirama." Tora continued, not noticing Akira's reaction. "And it was only due to his wood release. When Madara had abandoned the village, Hashirama tried to bring him back, but it ended up to a battle to the death. Madara had somehow summoned the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He ordered it to attack the Shodai. But the wood release seemed to have some effect against Bijuu as Hashirama managed to subdue the enslaved kitsune.

"During the battle, The Shodai realized that Madara was not going to com back and would be a threat to a village, so like any village leader, he eliminated the threat."

A butterfly flew out of the bushes in the area. Instantly, Akira jumped from Naruto's lap, her fear gone.

"So that's how Konoha got the Kyuubi." Naruto said as he watched Akira. "But how did they manage to seal it?"

"That's where the Uzumaki came in." Tora smiled. "Kushina's grandmother, Mito Uzumaki was married to the Shodai. When Madara was defeated, Hashirama told her that the Kyuubi was too dangerous to be kept in the open. She agreed with him and sealed the beast within herself."

"Has anyone else reached that Sharingan stage?" Naruto asked interestedly.

"I _think_ that Madara had a brother and they had achieved the Mangekyo together. But he had died protecting his clan from an ambush."

_KAWW!_

Naruto and Akira, jumped from the sudden screeching noise, the cub quickly hiding behind her father. Tora had snapped his head towards the direction, his usually kind eyes showing disdain to the black crow that had appeared.

The orange haired teenager stared at the giant crow, as a strange feeling of deja vu washed over him. The crow seemed familiar, yet so alien-like.

"Crows." Tora said in disgust.

"I would shut my mouth if I were you, Tiger." A voice answered, repulsed . "Last I checked, there are even less of your clan now."

Naruto was shocked at the voice that was coming out of the crow. While he knew that animals from a clan could talk, he didn't expect to see another one already.

"What do you want?" Tora asked. "Does your leader have anymore messages?"

"Karasu-sama wants nothing to do with you." The crow answered with dignity. "She wants to talk with _him."_ The crow pointed at Naruto with his black wings.

"Me?" Naruto asked, startled. "What do you mean me?"

The crow turned his beady eyes towards the teenager. "I have no idea why she would want to talk to a _human_ like you. But she ordered me to bring you to her."

"Naruto's not going anywhere." Tora interrupted. "We have something important to do."

Naruto was surprised at how rude and angry Tora was speaking to the crow. The kind tiger was now scratching the ground lightly with his claws as he glared at the crow.

"It wasn't a request." The crow stated before leaping towards Naruto. Tora darted towards the crow, attempting to slam it to the ground. But the crow managed to dodge the attack before flying to Naruto.

The teenager ducked as the crow flew straight over him. But just as he thought he evaded the attack, his surroundings suddenly turned into black dust.

Tora watched in anger as the crow managed to take Naruto to his leader, Karasu, the Raven Queen.

**AN/: Done! I bet none of you saw this one coming! Truth be told , this just popped into my head towards the end. I originally wanted to continue this chapter more but decided to split it in 3. I'm going to write each chapter atleast 3500 words now and expect an update every week. PM me for any error or questions and PLEASE REVIEW! Also tell if my grammar and stuff is getting better.**


	12. Chapter 12: Part 2

"Where the hell did you take me?!" Naruto yelled as he held the crow by its neck.

The moment the strange black dust had faded, Naruto had found himself inside a forest. Not like the one he was in before, but a dead forest. All the trees around him lacked leaves and looked withered. The ground had a strange black texture while the air around them seemed to be slightly foggy.

"L-Let go of me you foolish boy!" The crow choked out. "Get your hands off me!"

"Not until you tell me why I'm here?" Naruto spoke as he tightened his grip on the crow. The crow became silent as the lack of breathe set in. He quickly pecked Naruto's hands with his large sharp beaks.

"Ow!" Naruto yelped, immediately letting go of the crow and nursed his bruised hand.

"I told you to let me go." The crow said. "Now follow me. And before you argue." The crow added as Naruto opened his mouth. "Only we can send you back to your home."

Naruto scowled at the crow, but knew that he had no choice. He began to follow the flying crow. The fog seemed to be getting thicker and thicker. Naruto was lucky that the crow was slowing down so that he was still visible, otherwise he would have been lost.

"What does your leader want with me?" Naruto asked, after walking for awhile.

The crow, slowed down until he was next to Naruto. "Our leader had a vision. She said that one had cheated death and began a new life. We were sent by her to scout for the person."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with me?"

"It doesn't." He replied. "I sensed that you were selected by our summoner."

"Eh?!"

"I thought the same." The crow continued. "We haven't had a summoner for centuries. That is why I took you here. So that our leader can talk with you."

It was at that moment that the fog had lifted. Naruto gasped at the scene infront of him.

A giant tree laid infront of them. And by giant, I mean huge. The tree was so high that the canopy was covered with mist. Unlike the rest of the forest trees, this one was different. Half of the tree looked dead. Its roots were large from age and its trunk was chipped in places. Dead leaves, the size of his torso, littered the ground and the enormous branches

The other side however, was the complete opposite. Lush green leaves were growing from the branches. It's roots weren't huge compared to the other half, but it was still big. The weirdest part however was that the dead part was facing towards them, and the withered forest. While the healthy part was facing the other way, where a beautiful forest was.

Naruto stared in awe at the tree, his mind not comprehending what he saw. The crow seemed to have a smirk on his face when he saw Naruto's reaction.

"Wha... What is that?" Naruto asked, staring at the huge tree.

"That is our home. We call it the Tree of Nature." The crow replied.

"Nature?" Naruto asked, confused as he staring at the dead side.

"Yes, Nature." The crow replied. "Nature is not just about life. No matter who you are, you will still die. Such is the way of Nature."

Naruto looked troubled at those words. "Death? How can Nature depend on death? It's the exact opposite. Nature's about life-"

"And all life must eventually die." The crow interrupted. "Now come. We must visit the leader."

Naruto followed the crow towards the tree but couldn't forget he said. _"What does dieing have to do with Nature energy?"_

As they approached the Tree, Naruto began to notice the smaller details. Towards the dead side, the wildlife seemed to be senile. the birds seemed to have lost most of their feathers. the rats were stick thin. Almost every animal seemed to be at the edge of death.

But...

At the lively part of the forest, the animals looked more healthy and young. A bunch of baby birds were chirping in their nest. Foxes were chasing each other, running through the bushes.

It was confusing how the polar opposites seemed to be living side by side.

They approached a part of the tree (near the dead side). The branches were hanging on, barely.

"You have to climb up." The crow said, simply.

Naruto looked at him like he was crazy. "Sure, it's not like bark is gonna shatter or anything" He said sarcastically.

The crow nodded. "Yes, it might break. After all, it's centuries old." The crow replied seriously.

Naruto stared, disbelievingly as the crow began to fly upwards. "_Apparently, crows haven't heard of sarcasm._" He though exasperatedly.

He put his hand on the bark, testing how hard it was. It turns out, for a dying tree, it had a pretty solid trunk. He carefully grabbed the nearest branch and checked if it could hold his weight.

His answer was a broken stick.

Naruto sighed, before putting his foot onto the bark. _"Please dont break."_ He prayed, before dashing up the tree, pouring his chakra into his feet.

At first, Naruto thought, that maybe the wood would hold. But then he heard the cracking.

The places where his foots were, were now replaced by cracks that were spreading across the tree. He poured chakra into his legs as he began to leap higher as the tree was getting steeper.

But no matter how fast he did, the cracks were catching up to him. He looked up and saw that the canopy of the tree was just a few meters away.

_Crack!_

Naruto lost his footing as the tree broke. He felt his weight shift backwards as gravity began to pull him down. Out of desperation, he pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into the tree.

The kunai cut straight through the bark, stopping his fall. Amazingly, it was a clean stab, as the wood didnt start breaking.

Or so he thought.

The wodd broke and his kunai, the only thing keeping his from falling, came off. He quickly took out a another kunai before stabbing it also into the tree. For a few seconds, it held before breaking again. But he was prepared. He used his kunai to get a grip and hurl himself upwards and use his other kunai to do it again. He did this to climb upwards. Once he got his balance, his stuck his feet to the bark with his chakra. He also put some on his hands so he wouldn't lose his balance. He quickly climbed the tree before the wood could break. As he reached the top, he realized that it wasn't the peak. The canopy was still alot higher.

It was more of a short ledge around the tree.

Which lead to a hole.

Inside the tree.

Naruto looked back down, where he had come. He was shocked when he saw that all the cracks had disappeared, replace with its old brittle wood. He gulped before stepping inside.

**Scene change**

"Okay Kushina-chan! I give up!" Mikoto panted as another pillow hit her.

"Yes!" Kushina yelled throwing her hands in the air, or to be more specific, downwards. "I finally beat you!"

Mikoto laughed from the floor as Kushina lost her concentration on the chakra and fell onto the floor. "But you still can't concentrate, can you ?"

Kushina pouted. "At least I lasted longer than you." She said pointing her tongue at her.

Mikoto huffed. "At least I didn't fall." Her answer was another pillow to the head.

"You want a rematch?" Kushina threatened, mockingly. "So what do we do now?"

"Well we could just talk" Mikoto suggested sitting down on her bed.

"Okay." Kushina answered, also sitting down. "So..."

"What are you going to do?" Mikoto asked suddenly. "When you get out."

"You were waiting for this weren't you?" Kushina sighed. Mikoto had the decency to look sheepish.

"Well, the first thing I'm going to do is train. So then I can survive if any shinobi attack me."

"And?" Mikoto asked eagerly.

"Well, I want to look for any other Uzumaki. Then, with their help I want to rebuild Uzu."

"Really?" Mikoto said, astonished. "How?"

"I dont know." Kushina said truthfully. "I have to find and convince them, that is if I find any. Then I need money. And some workers to bring Uzu back to shape. I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll find a way." Kushina said determined.

"And Naruto is helping you?" Mikoto asked curiously.

"Yes." She answered immediately. "Or at least he said so."

"You seem to trust him alot." Mikoto noticed.

"Yeah." Kushina replied. "He did save my life."

"You warmed up to him really quickly." Mikoto noticed.

"Yeah." Kushina said, confused.

"You weren't like that to anyone here, other than me." Mikoto continued.

Kushina stared at her. "So?"

Mikoto's face dropped. "Nothing." She sighed. "So where are you going to go?"

"Well, I'm going to go to the Tigers, and probably train there until I'm strong enough." Kushina replied, still confused about Mikoto's questions. 'Tora said that he had some Uzumaki kenjutsu scrolls."

"You must have beens so happy when he said that." Mikoto grinned. Kushina gave her a sheepish smile. "I might have overeacted."

**Back wih Naruto**

"So you made it." The crow said as he saw Naruto walk inside.

"You could have given me a warning." Naruto grumbled.

"And where would be the fun in that." The crow replied. "Now hurry up. Our leader is waiting."

The crow flew deeper inside the tree. To Naruto however, It was just a giant black hole. _"But if this really is a beacon for nature chakra, then maybe I have to go in sage mode."_ He though, sitting down.

He took a deep breath and relaxed his body. He blocked out every sound and concentrated on keeping his mind clear and. Slowly, he felt the familiar chakra entering his body.

But the time it was different. Unlike the calming chakra, this one seemed to have a more aged feeling. It gave the same effect as the normal one, but the strength didn't seem as strong. However, his mind felt more powerful. His thoughts felt more clear.

He could feel the position of every living thing around the tree. His sensing skill was 10 times more powerful. He realized he was surrounded by crows. The previously pitch black darkness didn't seem as gloomy as before. In fact, everything seemed so much more open. He could feel the shape and layout of the tree. He began walking in the direction the crow had gone as he felt trail the crow had left.

He was amazed at how he could feel the tree. It's complete structure was seen by his mind. He could even feel the crow waiting for him.

"Could you hurry up?" The crow yelled, snapping him out of his stupor.

Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle before running toward the crow. Just when he was about to reach him, the crow started flying again. But Naruto could sense where he was going and quickly followed him. He took many turns as the inside of the tree was larger than he expected.

"So, you are the child of prophecy." A voice called out suddenly, freezing Naruto in his tracks.

The ceiling suddenly opened, allowing some light inside. Naruto shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness. When they finally adjusted, Naruto turned to the origin of the voice.

There stood a giant flock of crows, staring at him. All of them were identical, so it was impossible to tell which one led him here, or which one spoke.

The quickly the crows shifted towards the side. And in the middle stood a giant Raven. She looked like the other birds, but the noticeable difference were her bigger body and her blood red eyes. Her wings were clean and smooth unlike the others ruffled ones. Overall she looked like as graceful as a black birds could get.

"But, why are you here?" She spoke with cold tone. "You shouldn't be born for years to come."

"Um, what?" Naruto said awkwardly, as hundreds of eyes stared at him. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

The Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "Let's start with introductions. I am Karasu, leader of the Crows."

"I'm Naruto." He replied uneasily. "But why did you call me child of prophecy?"

"Do not act child." Karasu stated. "Your chakra signature was recorded the moment the prophecy was made."

"Uh, I think you got the wrong guy." Naruto said, nervously. "I don't remember anything about a prophecy. In fact, I don't remember anything before the month."

Karasu raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

Naruto proceeded to explain how he had woken up in the middle of the woods, with no memory, and finding out by a Yamanaka, that there was sort of seal in his mind.

Karasu stared at him as he explained, her eyes not even blinking. When he was done, all the crows stared at Karasu, waiting for her answer.

"Well, that is... unexpected." Karasu said finally. "But that does not explain why you have been used by our summoner."

"That's what one of your messengers told me." Naruto remembered. "And exactly what does that mean?"

Karasu looked towards her crows on the right. They got the message as they all flew uwards, revealing a wooden wall with five strange marks. Naruto carefully approached the structure and noticed that the marks were mades of some red liquid. The mark itself was the Kanji for crows along with the person's name.

"These are the summoners we have ever had." Karasy spoke. "We crows are often perceived as an omen. The omen of death to be exact."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Is that why you live on the... dead side of the tree."

Karasu nodded. "Our clan were always more compatible with the darker part of nature."

"Wait... darker?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

Karasu stared at him. "For one that can use nature chakra, you don't seem to understand it much, do you?"

"Hey! I told you I can't remember anything!" Naruto spoke up, offended.

Karasu shook her head at his slightly childish comeback. "Never mind. So as I was saying, no normal person can be our summoner. Our summoners must have the shadow of death, cursed on to them at birth."

Naruto felt a shiver go down his back.

"The moment they are born, they are destined an early death. The symptoms of the fatal sickness start to appear during their teenage years. Their death occurs around the age of 18."

The air suddenly felt colder to Naruto. When he looked at the Marks now, he could guess what was used to write it. Blood.

"The disease is so rare, that only 5 people till now have ever had it. None of them had a happy ending." Karasu took a deep breathe and spread her black wings. "As we are the omen of death, it is our duty to help them finish their duty, accomplish their dream, so they can have a comfortable death and have peace in the after life."

Karasu then shifted her dark eyes to him. "We haven't had a summoner for centuries, and it is clear that you have been in contact with a crow of a summoner." Noticing how Naruto was about to argue, Karasu spoke again. "While we do not blame you, it is quite a coincedence how a person who has been in contact with our summoner is also able to wield the lowest form of the sage."

Naruto put his hand up. "Okay, wait a minute. I understood the stuff about your summoner, but what are you telling about Nature chakra and this child of prophecy?"

"I was sure that your Tiger friend would have told you." Karasu said with distaste. "We can discuss that in the morning. You can rest in one of our nests for today."

Naruto blinked. "Rest? I can't rest now! I have to get back to Tora!"

Karasu narrowed her eyes at him. "It is night time and we do not travel during the night. I suggest you listen to us and stay here or wonder around in the woods."

Naruto looked above, where the light was entering the tree. It was indeed night time, as the moon could be seen clearly in the dark sky. He gave a nervous nod as Karasu told him to follow one of her crows.

Slowly, the black birds slowly flew out of the tree. _"Probably going to their nest." _Naruto thought as he followed the crow.

"So." The crow spoke up. "How did you like the meeting with our leader?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Naruto pointed at him. "You! Why did you leave me there?!"

The crow rolled his eyes. "I didn't leave you. I was watching you along with everybody."

"Oh. Well what did everyone say?" Naruto asked curiously.

" Well, everyone had the same thought 'What kind of ninja has orange hair?'" The crow snorted.

"Hey!" Naruto said indignantly. "Orange is a great color. And there's nothing wrong with my hair."

"Sure." Drawled the crow. "I mean its not like its a giant beacon or anything." He said sarcastically.

Naruto shook his head and tried to change the subject. "So is this tree completely hollow?"

The crow smirked when he noticed him change the subject. "Only half of the TREE is, and even that is only partially hollow. We shaped everything inside so we could live inside, but we still sleep outside."

The two continued to walk until the reached an exit leading to a branch of the tree. It was covered with nests at different sides. But unlike the usual nests, these weren't just a pile of twigs. Each stick were fitted perfectly together and stuck with a liquid he identified as sap. The nest consisted of a larhe base, and four small walls surrounding it.

"The walls are to stop our young from leaving their nest." The crow said, informatively. "And in case we have chilly nights."

Hundreds of crows flew towards their nest. Naruto could hear the hatchings chirping in their nest, bringing a smile to his face. The crow then proceeded to point using his wings.

"You can sleep on those dead leaves. And no, there aren't any bugs there." The crow added. The other crows looked toward Naruto for a brief second, before turning away and feeding their young.

"Um, are you sure I should stay here?" Naruto asked nervously. "I don't think they want me here."

"They're _cautious."_ The crow corrected. "After all, you are a stranger."

Naruto walked a few steps before a though struck him. "Hey, I never got your name."

The crow looked surprised, as if not expecting such a question. "My name is Riku." He said quietly before flying away.

Naruto watched as Riku flew to another branch, landing in one of the many nests. He shook his head before slowly walking forward. The moment he began moving, every crow stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

Naruto looked downwards, uncomfortably, as he felt everyone's gaze on him. He quickly hurried towards the leaves. He realized that it was actually quite close to the end of the branch. He looked back and saw that they had stopped staring at him, allowing his nervousness to dissipate. He quickly plopped down on to the leaves careful to stay away from the edge.

The leaves were brittle but surprisingly comfortable. He lied down and stretched his body as he felt the last of the nature chakra finally leave him.

"Excuse me mister."

Naruto jumped to his feet at the sudden voice. He looked around trying to find where it came from.

"Down here."

Naruto looked downwards and saw a little crow standing there. It looked just like the other crows, except this one one a lot smaller. A juvenile at best. And if he looked carefully, he could see that the bird had a few dark brown feathers.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you mister, but you're sitting on my nest." The bird said innocently, pointing towards Naruto's feet.

Naruto looked down and saw a small, normal bird's nest between his feet. It looked poorly built, compared to the others.

"Sorry." Naruto apologized, moving aside. The little bird then proceeded to hop inside his nest and smile at Naruto.

"Thank you mister." The crow said happily.

"No problem." Naruto said, smiling at the cute little bird. He proceeded to walk a few steps and lied down again. He closed his eyes, recalling about his encounter with Karasu.

_"Nature chakra isn't dark, is it? It always felt calming to -"_

"So what's your name?" A voice called out, interrupting his train of thought.

Naruto looked to his side and saw the crow sitting there, wide awake. "My name's Naruto" He answered. "And yours?"

"My names Isamu." He answered hopping out of his nest and sat closer to Naruto.

"Okay Isamu, why are you here?" Naruto asked. "I mean, why aren't you with the other crows?"

"Oh it's just really crowded over there." Isamu answered sheepishly. "That's why I always sleep over here. So where are you from? And how did you get here?"

"Well, I'm... a wanderer." He said. "And one of your crows, Riku, brought me here. He said that your leader wanted to see me."

"Karasu-sama?!" Isambu shouted eagerly. A few of the crows shouted at him to be quiet. "Sorry."

"Yeah. She said stuff about your summoner selecting me and something about a prophecy." Naruto said with a confused face.

"Child of prophecy?! Summoner?!" Isamu whispered shocked. "When did this all happen?!"

"A few minutes ago. " Naruto answered awkwardly. _"Didn't he notice all the crows inside the tree?"_ He though sweat dropping. "I don't want to sound rude or anything but its really late and I want to get some sleep."

"Sure Naruto-san!" Isamu answered enthusiastically.

"And just call me Naruto." He said smiling at the little bird who gave a nod before hopping back into his nest.

But Naruto didn't get an ounce of sleep that night. How could he not? His mind wouldn't let him sleep, after all, he was in a place he had never been to before, and surrounded by crows he had never seen. Instead, he stared at the giant glowing moon above him, which reminded him of the blood red one he saw in his dream.

**AN:/ Isn't much of a chapter. Had little time to write so this may looked poorly written. But I'm going to have a two week holiday after a week so I'll try to update faster. AND PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW, and pm me for any mistakes or questions.**


	13. Chapter 13: Part 3

"Did you even sleep?" Riku asked stunned.

"What? Of course I did." Naruto yawned. It wasnt a complete lie. He did fall asleep at some point in the morning but the bags under his eyes didn't exactly convince the crow.

Riku shook his head. "Just come on, Karasu wants to speak to you."

"Yeah, Yeah." He said sleepily. He got up and saw that the little bird, Isambu, had fallen out of his nest. The birds was lying on his back on the branch, while his feet were facing the sky. Even in his drowsy state, Naruto couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the little bird's position. He carefully picked up Isambu and gently placed him back in his nest.

Riku raised an eyebrow at Naruto's action. It wasn't everyday that you see an outsider treat the younglings in such a caring manner.

"Why didn't Isambu get any help?" Naruto asked suddenly asked. "To build his nest I mean. All the others seemed so much more... Royal compared to his."

" He's an orphan." Riku answered as Naruto's eyes widened. "His parents died while he was still inside an egg."

" Then why didn't You help him?" Naruto asked, shocked. "He's just a child. He should have someone to take care of him. To teach him, right?"

"Thats how it is for you humans." Riku said. "For us, there is no place for weakness. Either you deal with it, or die." Riku glanced at Isambu. "Though I have to admit, he has lived surprisingly well for his age."

"Don't you feel bad?" Naruto pressed on. "About leaving him alone?"

"We must go to our leader." Riku replied, ignoring the question. "After all, you did want an explanation for the prophecy."

"Right." Naruto nodded, but still felt kind of sad for Isambu. "No child should go through that." He thought.

They once again entered the complicated tree. As it was day, more sunlight seemed to enter the semi-hollow tree, making it easier for Naruto to see where he was going. Riku simply guided him to the position they were the previous night.

"It's about time you got here." A black raven called out.

"Sorry." Naruto said, rubbing his eyes. "I kinda overslept."

Karasu raised an eyebrow at Naruto's words. "You may leave." She said to Riku. "I wish to speak to him in private."

Riku nodded before giving a bow and leaving.

"So, what do you want me to explain?" Karasu asked, her eyes fixed on Naruto. "About Nature or the Prophecy?"

"The prophecy." Naruto answered immediately.

"Very well." Karasu said, before taking a deep breath. "There was a prophecy a few years ago. The first prophecy in centuries. It said that a student of a half sage will either save the world, or destroy it."

"Your probably thinking how this person can be you, aren't you?" Karasu said, as Naruto nodded in reply. "The truth is, we aren't sure. It may or not be you. But it most likely will be you. For one, you can channel the nature chakra into your body. A difficult feat for a human. Secondly, you have been in contact with a crow and a summoner. Thirdly, you, coincidentally, have a case of amnesia and then you meet the Crows and the Tigers, the two polar opposites of nature chakra."

"Yeah, but... How can it still be me?" Naruto said. "I don't even know where I came from, how can I be chosen to save or destroy the world?"

Karasu came closer till they were face to face. "You were chosen. The moment you were born, you were chosen by Kami. But such a fate must comes with a price. A portion of your life will be in darkness and despair. Perhaps if you had found the light within, you may save the world. If not, your already going to destroy it."

Naruto sighed. "The way you say it... It makes it sound like you made the prophecy and already knows what's going to happen."

Karasu nodded. "Of course I do. I did have a vision of it after all. And I remember getting a glimpse of his face. He had blond hair, even though yours is orange."

"Blond?" Naruto asked curiously. "I know a guys with blonde hair and his sensei in Jiraiya. Isn't he a sage?"

Karasu's eyes widened. "What? But..." Naruto spotted a troubled expression crossing her usually stoic face. "What happened?"

"When I said that I saw the prophecy... It's wasn't completely true." Karasu admitted. "The truth is that parts of the prophecy was shown to different animal clan head. I caught a glimpse of his blond hair, while others like the toads saw his sensei or his manipulation of nature chakra."

"Then does it have to be me?" Naruto asked carefully. _"But I still can't imagine Minato saving the world."_ Naruto thought chuckling mentally.

"This... complicates things." Karasu said finally. "Perhaps it isn't you. I'll have to speak to the others to confirm it though." She said to her self.

"Is there anything else?" Naruto asked. "About the prophecy?"

"No. That's it. You want to learn about Nature chakra, right?" Karasu asked, changing the subject. As Naruto nodded, she continued. "Well, you probably think of Nature chakra as just that, chakra The truth is that there are three types of nature chakra. The one that boosts your power, also known as the normal nature chakra. This chakra is the easiest to manipulate. It's warm and welcoming, making it easier to absorb.

The second one strengthens your spirtual energy, also known as yin nature chakra. Unlike the normal one, doesn't give you a boost in power, rather, it enhances your mind. It makes you calm and wise. It lets you think clearly in a tight situation. Form battle plans in a single thought. It also expands your senses, and detect chakra more easily."

"And that's the one that you use?" Naruto asked, intrigued. "Is that what you said about the darker part of the Nature chakra?"

"Exactly." Karasu nodded. "They call it darker because its our mind and choices that make us who we are. And seeing how some people are..." Karasu said trailing off. "The last one in the chakra thats strengths your body. It usually called yang nature chakra. It enhances your healing, mends any injuries you take 10 times faster. Along with improving your strength, reflexes and stamina, it also fills up you chakra reserves completely, incase you're low on it."

"Seeing how stronger the chakra seems to make you, there must be some really big drawbacks." Naruto noticed.

Karasy gave a small smile. "Your right, it does have huge drawbacks. You know the disadvantage of the normal nature chakra is fatigue after the use and turning into stone if it isn't balanced properly. For yin chakra however, its quite different. The chakra will have an effect on your mind. As you know, it makes your brain think faster. But taking in too mush yin chakra will cause it to stop working. It will literally fry your mind."

"For yang chakra, the drawback is actually the power it gives. For one, you can't keep still. The chakra cannot not be stored, it must be used immediately. Whenever you channel the chakra, you must release it in an attack, or jutsu, because keeping it inside will cause your muscles to burn from the power."

"I never knew Nature chakra was so much more complex." Naruto commented, looking around. "But what about this tree? You told that it's made of nature chakra given a form."

Karasu smirked. "It's made of yin and yang. The side which we are on right now has the yin chakra. You could relate to the fact that you grow wiser as you grow older."

Naruto nodded. "That makes sense." He admitted. "But why is the other side the exact opposite?"

Karasu got a glint in her eye. "Your question leads to another story. Centuries ago, A huge battle took place here. The Sage of the Six Paths battle against an entity called the Juubi. It was a Bijuu, just like the Kyuubi and Ichibi. But this one was formed before all of them. Or to be exact, it formed them."

"So that's what the Bijuu were before?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. After the Sage defeated the Juubi, he sealed it within himself. But he knew that when he died, the Juubi will break out again. So he used his powers to split it into nine pieces. Those are now the Nine Bijuu. The remaining husk of the Juubi was trapped inside an object that is now the moon."

"Wait... He made the moon?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yes, infact, he was the one who created chakra itself. But during the battle, the chakra radiated by the Juubi had an effect on the environment. The malicious chakra caused everything to die. And when it was being split into the nine Bijuu, tiny pieces of it was absorbed by the ground. Eventually, the land recovered, but that chakra caused an imbalance in the Yin and Yang Nature chakra. This tree was an unlucky seed that grew right between the two."

The lack of yang caused the animal's bodies to shrivel up." She said, pointing oward the dead side. "The lack of yin however." She added, gesturing toward the healthier side. "Doesn't seem to have much of an effect. But if you look closely."

Naruto peered carefully toward the ground. Even when he channeled chakra to his eyes, it was still difficult to see. He saw a pair of large foxes chasing each other, playfully.

"I can see two animals chasing each other." He said confused.

"You're seeing it from a human perspective." Karasu commented. "See it in a way you would expect a normal animal to do."

"Well, the foxes are playing with each other..." Naruto's eyes widened. "And they do that when they're young!"

"Exactly." Karasu nodded. "Physically, they look in excellent condition, but mentally, they aren't maturing. They act child-like and can't hunt for food, like proper foxes. They probably can't even communicate properly."

"That's... really sad." Naruto said, staring at the innocent foxes. "Can't you fix them?"

"We're trying." Karasu admitted. "But it takes time. The animals need to be exposed to more yin chakra, which we have learned to manipulate. But the process is long and tiring, and it can be done only one animal at a time."

"So Yin chakra can strengthen the mind, right?" Naruto asked. "Then is it possible for it to break or atleast loosen the seal in my mind?"

"It... might be possible." Karasu said, hesitantly. "So you want to learn to channel Yin? I though you wanted to learn Yang from the Tigers?"

"What?" Naruto said, puzzled. "Tigers use Yang chakra?"

"Indeed they do." Karasu nodded. "The shift in chakra here unbalanced Nature everywhere. All of them recovered, except here and the Tigers. There was an increase of Yang chakra to have an effect but enough Yin to allow them to develop properly."

"Tora never told me that." Naruto said to himself. "Alright. Now can I go now? I'm pretty sure that Tora might get worried if I'm gone for so long."

"Very well. I'll send someone to transport you back." She said closing her eyes. A few seconds later, Riku once again entered the chamber.

Naruto eyes widened. "How did you do that? You didn't even call him."

Karasu gave him a small smile. "Yin chakra." She answered. "And if you ever need to contact us, just ask your Tiger friend."

Naruto nodded before following Riku towards the exit. When he felt the daylight hitting his skin, he let out a sigh he didn't realize he was holding. "So, how are we going to go back?"

Riku tilted his head. "The same way we came."

* * *

><p>"Just a few more days" Kushina thought lying down on her couch. "Then I'll get out of this place."<p>

She hasn't felt anyone following her anymore, which means that the Hokage thinks that she is safe. Feeling bored, she took out a small book. She had bought it to keep it as a diary or a journal, but now she had a better use for it.

Things to do:

**Rebuild Uzu:**

** Find workers to rebuild the towns - 3 million ryo**  
><strong> Create seals to prevent outsiders from attacking<strong>  
><strong> Find traders to create shops and to get inhabitants<strong>  
><strong> Find Uzumaki survivors<strong>

"What else?" She thought tapping her pencil on the table. A grin appeared on her face

**Become the Uzukage**

* * *

><p>"And that's what happened." Naruto said as he finished explaining what had happened during hs stay with the crows.<p>

Tora scratched the ground angrily. "Damn Crows." He muttered.

"Why do you hate them so much? They didn't seem that bad." Naruto asked curiously.

"Their arrogance. They think that their the smartest animal because they can manipulate yin." Tora growled angrily. "They never admit their wrong, even after the clan wars."

"Clan wars?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"When the animal clans were at war." Tora answered. "We and some other clans were allied to the crows. They were our strategists. But one of their plans cost the lives of hundreds of animals. We managed to win that battle, barely. The crows said that some battles needed some sacrifice."

"Did you lose someone?" Naruto questioned, seeing Tora's anger.

"I wasn't born yet." Tora answered. "But I would have had an elder sibling if that particular battle didn't happen."

He took a deep breath. "I apologize. I shouldn't let my anger control me." He spoke in a calmer tone. "But I got good news. We managed to find a way inside the village."

"Really? Where?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Follow me." Tora said as he began to walk toward the village. The two tigers and Naruto eventually reached a completely normal looking tree.

"I don't get it." Naruto said confused. "Is it some secret passage?"

"It is." Tora confirmed. "But we need a password to enter it." He put his paw on the trunk. Slowly a seal began to form.

And on the center was the Kanji for Root.

**AN/: Sorry for the short chapter. I had alot of writers block and I was feeling lazy. So I'm pretty sure this chapter seems really rushed. But this one is basically to explain the Nature chakra. Please review.**


	14. Chapter 14

"So how are we going to crack it?" Naruto asked. While the tigers did live with the Uzumakis, they didn't understand Fuinjutsu like them.

"Neither of us know how Fuinjutsu works so cracking it would be out of the question." Tora replied. He put his paw on the bark. "But I believe that this is probably a secret passage. You told me that those ANBU that attacked you had this written on there mask, right?"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "So if this is a passage, it would probably lead back to the village. Can't we try to blast it apart?"

"These are elite ninja Naruto." Tora rolled his eyes. "They wouldn't leave a loop hole as big as that."

"Worth a try though, right?" Naruto grinned, before motioning Tora to move aside. He closed his eyes and thought of a jutsu to uproot the tree. Almost immediately he began to perform the handsigns.

**"Wind release: Great Breakthrough!"** He shouted before taking a deep breath and releasing it in one go. At first it was just a strong wind, but it sooned turned grew to the power of a small cyclone. The tree was immediately thrown back, where it crashed to another tree, causing both of them to fall.

"I think I overdid it." Naruto said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Tora's jaw had dropped, but from how easy it was to destroy the tree or how powerful Naruto's wind jutsu was he wasn't sure.

Where the base of the tree was, now had a small perfectly circular hole. Being the curious cub she was, Akira quickly look ran and looked over the edge.

"Wow! It looks really dark in there!" She said in awe, leaning over the edge.

Tora quickly sat next to her, in case she leaned to far. "Be careful Akira-chan." He warned.

Naruto got on his knees and also peered inside the hole. "You wouldn't know a fire jutsu, would you Tora?" Seeing the large Tiger shakes his head, Naruto sighed. "Guess I have to do it the old fashioned way."

The orange haired teenager kneeled down, and picked up two of the many dry twigs lying on the forest floor. He then sat down and put them on top of each other. Tora sauntered over to him.

"Trying to make a fire?"

"Yup."

"Have you ever done it before?"

"..."

* * *

><p>With Kushina<p>

"I'm so bored!" Kushina drawled, out loud. Her eyes flickered towards the table, where the book about Fuinjutsu laid She picked it up before skimming through the pages.

"I already read this stuff." She sighed, turning the pages until she got to a page called 'Base' and 'Layers'

"A base of a seal consists of two parts." She read. "The Kanji and the connectors. The Kanji represent the purpose of the seal, while the connectors are markings that show the flow of chakra and enable the seal to work. Layers are minor kanjis and are linked to the original kanji through connectors. Layers can be used to give both a small and specific purpose or a wider selections.

A normal storage seal consists of one kanji and four connectors, while an Uzumaki storage seal consists of 3 kanji and around 10 connectors. This is because Uzumaki storage seal can store a lot more items while also ignoring the size of the object. The object is also kept in a period of stasis. This allows food to be stored, without the risk od them expiring."

Kushina picked up the seal she was working on. It currently had 4 kanjis and 8 connectors. She knew that the lower the amount of connectors cause the seal to blow up, her ash- covered face had made Naruto laugh for hours.

"I wonder where he is right now?" She thought "Probably with Tora and Akira."

* * *

><p>"WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING?! Naruto yelled, throwing the sticks down in frustration. Tora couldn't help but chuckle at his irritatin.<p>

"You just have to be more patient, Naruto." He said wisely

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "You want me to be more PATIENT?"

None of them noticed Akira playing around with the sticks. Akira sat on her hind legs, watching Naruto and Tora bicker. Suddenly a dead leaf fell of it's branch and landed on Akira's nose. She felt her nose twitch, before she let out a small, short sneeze.

"Achoo!"

The leaf flew away from her, and landed on the piles of sticks that Naruto was using. A crackling sound was soon heard, and suddenly the leaf burst into flames, spreading on to the wood.

Naruto and Tora looked back when they heard the sound and saw a blazing fire and a smiling Akira. Naruto felt his jaw drop while Tora walked to his daughter. "Good job Akira." He praised, rubbing her head, to which she gave a purr of happiness.

_"A cub could make a better fire than me."_ Naruto thought, crying anime tears.

"You coming Naruto?" Tora asked, as he and his cub walked near the hole.

"Yeah, sure." A depressed Naruto replied, picking up the torch. He then proceeded to wave the torch, trying to see in the darkness. "I'm going in."

He slowly lowered his feet down. When he didn't feel his feet touch anything, he decided to just jump. Surprisingly, the tunnel was not that deep from the surface. As his foot touched the rocky ground, he raised the torch high. Behind him was completely blocked, but the rest of the tunnel, however was not.

"You coming?" Naruto asked to the two tigers. He could hear Tora shuffling around a bit.

"Im afraid I might not be able to fit through." Tora said in a half sleepily, half depressed voice. Naruto looked up and finally noticed how small the hole looked compared to Tora.

"I guess I'll keep going then." Naruto replied.

"Be careful." Tora said, and with that the blonde teenager began to travel into the tunnel.

It didn't take long for Naruto to reach something, or in this case step on. He had been walking on the rocky path when he stepped on what felt like a twig. He felt it crack under his weight. As he lifted his foot to see what it was, he realized put hat it wasn't a stick it was in fact a...

_" IS THAT A BONE?!"_ He thought in disbelief, which was quickly replaced with horror. There on the the ground was the remains of a hand. Naruto sated at it with wide eyes before quickly hurrying along the tunnel. The sight of the bone unnerved him and only increased his wish of getting out of here.

He didn't find anymore skeletons, as he wandered deeper in the tunnel. He sished he would find the end of the tunnel already, it didn't matter if it was a dead end, or a way to the surface. _"Kami, when will this damn tunnel end?!"_ He thought, frustrated.

As if an answer to his prayer, he found an end. Just not the kind he was expecting.

"What the hell happened here?" He said out load.

In front of him was what seemed to be a camp, except it seemed like a tornado ran over it. There were several bunkers in the corner, along with what seemed to be a canteen and some supplies. The teen walked over to the bunker. There were rags all over the floor, and a bag was stuffed away in the corner.

_"What's this?"_ He wondered, as he slowly reached for the bag. When his fingers came in contact with it, he could tell that the it was here for decades, if not more. There was a layer of dust covering the bag, and the fabric seemed brittle to touch.

He carefully unzipped the bag, revealing medical supplies. The were bottles and needles, along with... Food pills? Naruto shook his head at the state of the pills, before putting the bag away. As he stood up, he noticed a lump on one of the beds.

Curiosity got the better of him as he stepped towards the bunker. He put his hand on the rag before pulling it away. A horrified gasp escaped his lips.

There tied to the bed was a corpse, a white skeleton with its face looking straight at Naruto. A girlish scream left his mouth before he jumped away from the body. Normally he wouldn't have reacted so, but walking in a dark tunnel for what seemed like hours,and with only a small torch for light reminded him of all those ghost stories he heard, and seeing those bodies made his imagination run wild.

It was then that Naruto noticed the corpse's legs. Or to be more specific, the lack of one. The skeleton seemed to be missing its right leg. On his hand however, was a piece of paper. Even though he was freaked out, he still was curious to see what it was about. Naruto shook his head. "_It's just a dead body, it's not going to come alive."_ He said to himself.

He then put his hand on the parchment. He felt a shiver go down his back when he felt his hand touch the corpse's bones. He quickly pried the paper out of the body's arm. When he unrolled the paper, he dropped it when he saw that it was written in blood.

_To whoever is reading this_

_The third base has been captured and is now being used by Iwa_

_Evacuate this area immeditely! Please inform Hashirama-sama! The bodies are bombs!_

Whatever the rest of the message was, was covered in dry blood. "_So this was some camp during the First Shinobi War?_ _And where are the bodies? And if they were bombs, how is this one still here?" _Questions were now running through The teenager's head, his previous fears forgotten. He noticed a small lump protruding from the body's 'clothes'. He hesitated, before putting his hands inside it's clothes. He swiftly removed the object, revealing it to be a-

_"Picture?"_

A photograph laid inside the wooden frame. The cracked glass distorted the view, but he could make out a brown haired man standing with his arms around a woman. They both were sporting large grins on their face. The most unerving part though, was the heart that was drawn on the picture's glass.

Drawn with blood.

Naruto didn't feel any uneasiness now. Instead, he felt pity well up inside him for the dead man. He was trapped in his own base, probably surrounded by chakra bombs. He hastily wrote a warning message that hadn't gotten through and the last picture he probably saw, was probably the one in Naruto's hand.

_"Is this the life of a shinobi? To put your life on the line? To die a lonely, painful death? Away from your loved ones?"_ Naruto thought bitterly. He may have amnesia, but even to him such an ending wasn't one that a person would deserve. He slowly put the picture onto the man's bony chest. _"Kushina described the life of a shinobi as if it's one of the most honourable thing in life. But is this what lies ahead of her? Of me?"_

The crackling of the torch broke him out of his thoughts, reminding him that he had a limited amount of time. He got on his knees and paid his repect to the dead man, hoping that his soul in now resting in peace. _"If this is what happens to a shinobi, then I don't want to be one."_ He remembered that he was still wearing the konoha headband. He untied it from his forehead before placing it softly next to the picture. _"But to die for your loved ones is something that anyone should honour._"

He picked up his torch, before continuing his journey through the tunnel.

* * *

><p>"Tou-chan? When will Naruto come back?" The little tiger cub asked her father.<p>

"Hopefully he'll return soon Akira. It's getting dark." Tora saw Akira shiver a bit, before she rubbed his arms with her head. "I don't like the dark Tou-chan. It makes me feel scared."

Tora put his large arm around Akira. "Hush now my little Tiger. I won't let anything happen to you." Akira let out a cute yawn before curling herself at his side. Almost instantly, she fell asleep.

Tora stared at her tiny figure, almost being able to imagine her with white fur instead of orange. "I promise."

* * *

><p><em>"What. The. Hell?" <em>Naruto thought with wide eyes, staring at the structures infront of him.

He hadn't travelled far from the camp when he began to see a shape in the distance. But when he had reached it, his jaw had dropped from the jungle infront of him.

Ahead of him were hundreds of trees, growing without sunlight or water. But the stange part was how there were no signs of animals. Naruto approached the trees, and noticed that the way they were arranged, almost looked like it was forming a wall. He gently touched the bark of the tree and was shocked when he could feel the energy radiating out of it. And the closer he was to the jungle, the stronger it got. _"Yet it feels strangely familiar? It's... Nature chakra? Of course! This must be the Shodai Hokage's mokuton! But I never knew he was a sage."_

Naruto squeezed between the trees and continued to walk past them. His torch was almost completely out, so he had to hurry to find an opening. Thankfully, the tunnel finally seemed to be coming to an end. He could see sunlight from a small distance. He made sure not to trip on the sturdy roots on the floor as he ran up to the exit. He closed his eyes as the sunlight hit his face.

_"Wait a second. I know this place."_ Naruto realized as he looked at the trees surrounding him. _"This is... Training ground 44! The Forest of...Death..."_

He looked back at the cave from where he had exited the tunnel from. _"Maybe, I can use this route to get Kushina-chan out of the village. The Hokage probably won't allow her to go outside the village."_

He climbed the nearest tree and used the high view to find the nearest exit to the strange forest.

* * *

><p>"Draw?" Mikoto called out, panting.<p>

"Finally!" Kushina gasped, collapsing onto the grass. They had been sparring for an hour or so, and thanks to Naruto's training, Kushina was finally able to stand toe-to-toe with Mikoto.

_"Just another step closer to bringing Uzu back!" _She cheered mentally. Kushina got up and helped Mikoto pick up the fallen kunais and shurikens.

"Thanks." The Uchiha said with a smile, as she put her weapons back in the pouch. The raven haired girl's eyes widened when she realized what time it was.

"Sorry Kushina, but I have to go right now. I'll see you tomorrow!" Mikoto left before Kushina could reply. The Uzumaki counldn't help but frown in dissapointment as she saw her friend leave. She walked out of the training grounds and into the streets of Konoha.

_"I still have to wait a few more days."_ She groaned mentally. "_And now that Naruto's gone, I don't have anything to do at home."_

"Um, Kushina?" A voice called out. Kushina looked up to see a familiar blonde.

_"How does he know exactly where i am?!" _She thought. "Hey Minato, what are you doing out here?"

He shifted nervously before replying. "Jiraiya-sensei took me out to show me some stuff, and I was just walking back home."

The redhead rose an eyebrow. "Really? What did he say?"

Minato's face suddenly lit up red. "I-It was nothing. He was just being silly." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Kushina frowned but dropped the subject nonetheless. "Well, if that's all, then I have to get back to my apartment." She said walking away.

"W-Wait!" Minato blurted out. Kushina looked over her shoulder at him. "Uh, I-I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat later?" He stammered awkwardly.

Kushina blinked at him. She was about to say no when she began to consider. A bite to eat didn't sound to bad right now, especially if she could make him pay for her. "Okay!" She replied. "Wait for me by Ichiraku's!"

Minato's eyes widened bs if he was shocked that she said yes, but Kushina didn't ask as she had already began to walk back to her apartment.

* * *

><p><em>"Where the hell am I?" <em>Naruto wondered as he ran through one of the many alleyways in Konoha. He had taken a wrong turn and he suddenly found himself surrounded by buildings he couldn't recognize.

_"The suns almost completely set, which means the ANBU are going to start their patrol." _Naruto cursed mentally. _"I could climb the buildings, but they would easily spot me."_

He made a handsign and in a puff of smoke he changed his appearance to a normal, completely up suspicious villager._ "Hopefully the ANBU aren't going to be too thorough in their job tonight._

He walked out calmly and blend in to the crowd of villagers. He felt his stomach rumble. _"Oh yeah, I hardly had anything to eat today._" He remembered._ "I have some spare change. Maybe I should get a bite to eat first..."_

* * *

><p>"So, Minato. Have you ever come here before?" Kushina said, as they stood outside a rather small restaurant.<p>

"Well, if heard of it, but I've never gone to eat here before." Minato replied. He was slightly confused as to why Kushina seemed so happy when she came here.

"Hey Teuchi-ojisan!" Kushina greeted as she walked inside and sat on an empty stool, with Minato sitting next to her.

"Oh, hello Kushina. And who's this?" He asked her.

"This is Minato. He's a friend of mine." She answered, while looking through the menu. "Hmm, What should I have?"

"Good evening sir." Minato greeted formally.

"Good evening to you to young man." Replied back to the blonde. "Now what would you two like to have?"

"I'll have a bowl of chicken ramen." Minato answered.

"I'll have the usual Teuchi-ojisan." Kushina said happily.

Teuchi wrote the order down before asking one more question. "Just out of curiosity, but which one of you are paying?"

"Um, I am." Minato answered awkwardly, not seeing the evil grin on Kushina's face. Teuchi gave him a look of pity before going to cook their ramen.

"I wonder why he asked that." Minato thought out loud.

"Oh, no reason." Kushina said mischievously. It was at that moment a brown haired man entered the restaurant and Kushina could have sworn that he stared right at her before he sat down. Teuchi went to take his order aswell, before he went towards the back of the restarant to cook the ramen.

"So, Minato." Kushina began. "You have a legendary Sannin for a sensei. What does he teach you? Any high level jutsus?"

"Well, actually he doesn't teach us anything like that. Infact, he usually just makes us practice all these chakra control exercises and basics like the Kawarami."

"Really? He doesn't teach you anything else?" Kushina asked, surprised.

Minato gulped. "He does try to teach us one thing..."

"What is it?" Kushina asked, excited but also a bit confused at the blondes sudden nervousness.

"Promise not to overreact." Minato asked nervously.

"Um, alright." She answered, not seeing where this was going.

* * *

><p>"<em>Wow, the chances of me finding her at Ichiraku's are... actually pretty high."<em> Naruto thought as he sat on the far left, away from the two. _"And I can't believe that Minato actually asked her out. And that Kushina actually agree-"_

"WHAT?!"

Naruto almost jumped from his seat when that shout broke his trail of thought. He looked towards his side and saw a frightened Minato, and a furious Kushina.

"And he tried to teach it to you?!" Kushina yelled in outrage.

"_Tried _to! I didn't want to learn stuff like that!" Minato said in panic.

Kushina shook her head. "And he's a Sannin! I can't believe I respected that guy when the only thing he's doing is being a damn pervert!" Kushina growled.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "_Jiraiya's... A pervert?"_

"Here's your ramen!" Teuchi announced, setting the bowls of noodles in front of Minato and Kushina. Almost immediately, Kushina's anger left and a huge grin filled her face.

Minato seemed relieved when the redhead forgot about their subject and began to eat her ramen. He picked up his chopsticks and was about to take a bite when-

"Another bowl please Teuchi-ojisan!" Kushina said putting her now empty bowl onto the table.

_"What?! But didn't she just start eating...?"_ Minato thought, bewildered, staring at her bowl. _"And did she just order one more?"_

"Coming right up!" Teuchi replied as he put Naruto's bowl right infront of him.

"Thank you." Naruto replied before he began to eat his ramen. He was tempted to chow down on it just like Kushina but instead he opted to eat slowly and enjoy. "_And seeing Kushina's expression, they're gonna be staying here for a while_. _And by Minato's face, Kushina probably tricked him into comong here."_

* * *

><p>"Thanks for the treat Minato!" Kushina said happily, patting her stomach while the blonde stared at his nearly empty pocket.<p>

_"Where does all that ramen go?"_ Minato thought, anime tears running down his face. None of them noticed the brown haired man walk out of the ramen stand.

"Well I have to get back to my apartment now." Kushina said to Minato.

"So, uh, could we do this again sometime?" Minato asked anxiously.

She should have said no. She would be running away from this village in a few days, but the nervous look on Minato's face changed her mind. "Sure." She lied.

A smile broke out on the blondes face. "Goodbye then Kushina."Minato said before turning away.

Kushina didn't reply, but instead just walked away from there, feeling slightly guilty for lying. Most of the people had gone back to their homes so there were very few outside. The wind blew softly as she made her away up the stairs, to her apartment door.

Just as she close the door behind her, she was surprised to hear a knock on the door. She slowly opened the door and saw the brown haired man who was with them at the ramen stand.

Before she could speak, he vanished in a cloud of smoke, and was replaced with a familiar orange haired boy she hadn't seen for weeks.

"Its about time you reached home Kushina-chan." Naruto said with a grin.

**AN/: So my finals are over and I now have a few free months, so I'll try to post as much as I can. I also typed this chapter as fast as I could so I'm sorry if it seems rushed. If there seems to be any mistakes or plotholes, please point them out so I can fix them. Please give me some constructive criticism cause I want to improve. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! :)**


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